Almost nine in 10 (87 per cent) employers are either already addressing or planning to address retirement adequacy through their financial wellbeing programmes, making it their leading financial resilience priority, research from the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) has revealed.

REBA's latest Financial Wellbeing Research, conducted in partnership with Wealth at Work, highlighted a growing focus among employers on improving retirement outcomes rather than simply providing access to workplace pensions.

The research found that salary sacrifice pension schemes were the most widely adopted measure to improve retirement adequacy, with 94 per cent of employers either offering or planning to offer them.

Meanwhile, 93 per cent of employers currently support, or intend to support, employees in reviewing or adjusting their pension contributions, while 92 per cent provide or plan to provide financial education.

More personalised support is also expected to increase, with the proportion of employers offering investment advice potentially doubling over the next two years, from 12 per cent currently to 24 per cent.

The study also highlighted growing employer interest in support for pension consolidation, amid concerns that the growing number of small pension pots is making retirement planning more complex.

Around 13 million small deferred pension pots are currently worth £1,000 or less, and this figure is increasing by about one million annually.

In response, nearly three-fifths (59 per cent) of employers provide or plan to provide pension consolidation guidance, while 43 per cent offer or intend to offer consolidation services.

REBA suggested this focus could grow as pensions dashboards roll out, with employees potentially needing more support to understand their overall retirement savings and assess whether consolidation is appropriate.

Commenting on the findings, Wealth at Work director, Jonathan Watts-Lay, said: "The findings highlight a shift in employer focus from pension participation to retirement outcomes.

"Retirement adequacy remains one of the biggest long-term financial challenges facing employees, and employers increasingly recognise that achieving good outcomes requires more than pension access alone.

"Financial education has an important role to play in helping employees make informed decisions throughout their careers and take ownership of their pension savings."

Watts-Lay also stressed the importance of encouraging employees to make small changes to their pension contributions early in their careers, highlighting the potential impact on their eventual retirement savings.

He suggested that someone in their twenties could increase their workplace pension contributions by just 1 per cent each year, boosting their eventual pension savings by 25 per cent if their employer matched the increase, according to the assumptions used in Wealth at Work's illustration.

Looking ahead, Watts-Lay argued that pensions dashboards and the growing focus on retirement support under the Pension Schemes Act 2026 would make access to financial guidance and advice increasingly important.

"While pensions dashboards are a step in the right direction, many employees will need support to understand their overall position at retirement and decide whether consolidating some pensions into a single pot is appropriate for them," he continued.

"As retirement approaches, it is important that employees have access to personal guidance and can consider whether investment advice could help them to better understand their options and make informed decisions about their savings."

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