Aviva has said that it has noticed a 60 per cent increase in enquiries from employers and advisers looking to switch pension provider during the first half of 2019, compared to the same period last year.

The insurer says that two thirds of those enquiries came from advisers, while the remaining third were direct from employers, showing that the secondary DC workplace pensions market was thriving.

As many businesses have now had their contract-based DC schemes for a number of years, Aviva believes that they have had adequate time to assess them and decide if they are delivering what they require for their employees and long-term benefit plans.

“A few years ago, some employers may have seen setting up a workplace pension scheme as an administrative hassle that they just needed to get done as quickly as possible,” explained Aviva head of workplace savings and retirement, Malcolm Goodwin.

“But it is becoming clear that a pension is a really valuable benefit to employees. This is leading to businesses and their advisers re-evaluating their pension schemes and making enquiries about switching.

“Pension schemes and pension providers can vary widely. I’d encourage employers of all sizes to assess whether they and their employees are getting the value for money they had hoped for.”

The news follows a recent survey conducted by Aviva among some 2,000 employees in the UK, which found that employers and employees are increasingly recognising the value of a well-run workplace scheme.

Pensions came second in a poll of workplace benefits employees were most interested in, just behind annual leave.

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