Pension bulk annuity insurers have accelerated their investment in services and support for members over the past 12 months, with all insurers surveyed by Aon now offering a self-service portal, up from 90 per cent in 2025.

Aon’s research, which looked at the 10 bulk annuity insurers currently active in the UK market, found that while pricing remained important, trustees and sponsors increasingly looked at improving the member experience during the buyout process.

The survey found that insurers view end-to-end digital retirement journeys as their top development priority, with a third offering fully digital retirement processes that allow members to generate quotes and complete retirement forms online.

Aon asked insurers about their current appetite and readiness to provide key at-retirement options.

Nine out of 10 insurers were prepared to offer a bridging pension option (BPO) at retirement, while the appetite to offer a pension increase exchange (PIE) at retirement remained more limited, with most insurers still considering whether they would offer this.

Meanwhile, access to independent financial advice remained the least developed area, with only one insurer having carried out the preparatory work needed for members to access advice at preferential rates.

Aon partner and head of member options and support, Kelly Hurren, said: "Our client interactions increasingly show that member experience needs to be treated as a distinct workstream when trustees and sponsors are considering a buyout.

“Thankfully, this survey shows that the ongoing service that members will receive is now a much more prominent consideration in the buyout process than it was even just a few years ago.

“Insurers are continuing to invest in digital tools, retirement support and member options, so schemes have much more opportunity to preserve and in some cases enhance, the experience available to their members after buyout.”

She added that for trustees and sponsors, the key is to be clear about their priorities.

“When schemes have strong views on the support and options they want members to be able to access in retirement, they should make these expectations explicit when engaging with insurers. The market is evolving quickly and insurers are increasingly responding to that demand."

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