In case you missed the first session of Pensions Dashboards Week 2024, find out what themes and topics our speakers covered as they imagined what pensions could look like in 2045.
For our first session of Pensions Dashboard Week 2024, we looked at what areas of the UK’s pensions sector need investment to better meet the current and future needs of savers and improve member outcomes over the next two decades.
We know that pensions dashboards offer both a catalyst for innovation and a vital step towards modernising the UK’s pension infrastructure, but their implementation has to address the broader systemic issues facing the sector.
Currently, one in every two members are overwhelmed when managing multiple pension pots, and around the same number (55%) are looking to their provider for support[i]. With millions of members expected to use dashboards when they are available to the public, our industry is on the cusp of change and we need to ensure we are focussed on consumers to create the best possible outcomes for savers.
The experts joining me in imagining what the UK pensions sector could look like in 2045 were Kim Gubler (PASA), Rosie Lacey (PMI), Ellie Tembras (Zippen) and Karen Bolan (Gallagher). Below are some key insights from the discussion. You can watch the full video here.
Ellie Tembras (Founder and COO, Zippen)
Improving Engagement
As Ellie highlighted, engagement routes need to improve, whether by using behavioural science to help design the dashboards of the future, or utilising gamification to capture young people’s imagination and demystify finance.
“As well as a digital shift, we need a cultural shift. We can create conversations around finances that we’re too scared to talk about. How wonderful would that be?”
Responding to a new generation
Children born in 2024 are expected to live into their early nineties, and we need to put serious thought into how we will respond to their different situations and needs over that lifespan.
“We need choice, and that has to match our age, our personality, our needs. Whatever the market looks like, it has to appeal to the school leaver, the job-hopper, the zero-hours worker.”
Rosie Lacey FPMI (Vice President, PMI; and Head of Pensions and Benefits at Costain Group)
The pros and the cons of pension dashboards
The model as it stands might have flaws, because its level of accessibility may leave it open to mis-selling. This may lead to some members consolidating pensions when it isn’t in their best interests, but can be compensated by improvements to visibility and control.
“We are exposing ourselves to an element of abuse. On the other hand, pensions are no longer lost, and retirement outcomes are improved. [Users] understand the value of their savings.”
A lack of engagement
Today most people don’t really engage with their pensions, and traditionally the view was that providers shouldn’t be pushing their customers to do anything they didn’t want to do.
“This lack of engagement is not a new thing – it has snuck up on us quietly over time.” Rosie also noted how improving access to people’s pensions via their payslips, for example, could also improve engagement.
Kim Gubler (Chair, PASA; Director, KGC Associates)
Dashboards enable action
Dashboards can revolutionise the way people interact with their pensions, in line with the DWP’s three core objectives: to enable people to find their pensions, to understand what these pensions mean for their future, and to act on that understanding
“Pensions aren’t just about passive understanding, they are designed to enable action… Dashboards provide transparency – no more searching around the back of draws for paperwork!”
Blurring the line between pensions and financial products
Holistic interaction and data-driven personalisation will blur the line between pensions and financial products as part of a dynamic interactive process.
“In the next 25 years I hope to see more pension providers leveraging data-driven approaches. In 2045 I imagine a world in which people won’t need to search [in their dashboard] at all – connectivity will be seamless thanks to technology improvements.”
Karen Bolan (Retirement Communication Director, Gallagher)
Adapting to future users
To prepare for the future, pensions have to be able to adapt to the lifestyles and careers of young people today. As Karen noted: “If we want to look at the consumer of 2045, we need to look at the consumer of 2024.”
The importance of Customisation
Offering customisation will be key to engagement, since people have grown used to tailoring their digital experience to match their expectations; the dashboard has to offer the same degree of flexibility.
“Preferences should drive the communications approach – we’ve grown used to having things customised for us, and we’re astute about how we receive information… We have to ensure that our dashboards are accurate, clear and simple… there’s an incredible opportunity with dashboards, and an incredible danger of getting it wrong.”
The need for generational understanding
The pension sector is currently an industry run by people in their fifties, who will need to learn to engage with a younger generation, utilising communication strategies and methods that are appropriate for that audience.
“We’ve got to meet our members where they are, wherever they are. We have to do more about putting ourselves in our members’ shoes and thinking about what they need.”
In case you missed the kick-off session of Pensions Dashboards Week 2024, you can watch the recording on-demand here.
[i] The survey was undertaken by Censuswide in March 2024 and polled 2037 UK respondents with a workplace pension.
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