Over a third (36 per cent) of people who changed jobs over the past five years failed to ask about the workplace pension during the hiring process, new research from M&G has found.

This was despite 22 per cent rating the pension scheme as the most influential benefit when deciding whether to accept a role, the third most popular choice after salary and flexible working.

The research revealed that as little as 6 per cent of jobseekers asked about the company pension scheme in the first interview, and only one in 10 (10 per cent) enquired in the final interview.

Furthermore, more than a fifth (21 per cent) asked about the pension scheme after receiving a job offer, and 16 per cent after accepting the role.

M&G suggested there was a mismatch between the employee benefits people valued and what they felt able or comfortable asking about in an interview.

In response, the savings and investment firm has called for a national “pension health check”, encouraging savers to regularly review their pension circumstances as part of pensions dashboards whenever they change jobs.

M&G managing director, corporate pension solutions, Kerrigan Procter, said that finding out about the pension scheme on offer should be “essential” when applying for a job.

“Too many people are missing out because they don’t ask, or the information isn’t readily available,” he added.

“That’s why we make our pension details clear and upfront in every job advert, and why we’d like to see all employers do the same.

"When combined with a simple pension health check at each job move, that transparency could make a huge difference to people’s financial security. Pensions need to be impossible to overlook.”

The research also found a difference between the genders, with men valuing a workplace pension package (26 per cent) as a greater influence on accepting a job than women (19 per cent), who ranked flexible working (27 per cent) and holiday allowance (24 per cent) more highly.

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