Less than half (47 per cent) of UK consumers consider their pensions, including workplace pensions and personal or self-invested personal pensions, to be good value, according to research conducted by Royal London in collaboration with the Lang Cat.

The 2025 Meaning of Value research surveyed 2,000 UK consumers and found that 40 per cent of UK consumers are neutral on the value of their pension, while 5 per cent think that their pensions are poor value.

The survey also asked them, for each financial services product they use, which factor was most important in their decision to choose that product.

For a workplace pension, 19 per cent of consumers said the most important factor was the potential for investment growth or return protection (e.g. expected returns, capital protection), while 19 per cent said the brand's reputation.

This was followed by price or costs of charges (15 per cent), recommendation from their financial adviser (13 per cent), and brand familiarity and highly rated customer service (both 8 per cent).

Meanwhile, when it came to the most important factor influencing consumers’ choice of a personal pension product, 26 per cent said the potential for investment growth or return protection.

One fifth (20 per cent) said a recommendation from their adviser would be an important factor, 14 per cent said the brand's reputation and 12 per cent said the price or cost of charges.

The research also showed that of the financial services products they currently have, 70 per cent of consumers prioritise a product from a workplace pension provider with a strong reputation, even if it comes at a higher cost.

In comparison, nearly 80 per cent said the same for their personal pension.

When asked which factors they might value when working with an adviser, 12 per cent of consumers said they would consider an adviser who recommends the best retirement options, while 6 per cent said they value ongoing support throughout retirement.

Speaking at the launch event of the report, Royal London director of policy and technical, Jamie Jenkins, said that despite research showing that less than 10 per cent of people take advice, there is a future where people will be “much better saved” under auto-enrolment.

He said that if changes are made and auto-enrolment contribution rates are increased, “suddenly there will be a whole swathe of society headed towards retirement to have this big pot of money, about which they need to make decisions”.

Given this, he said: “You would start to think that the sort of cost of paying for advice, in the scheme of those decisions, starts to become much more prevalent.”

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