A report by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) says better industry collaboration and default designs could improve engagement.
The PPI published What could effective pensions engagement look like?, a report that aims to support people to make informed active choices that lead to positive retirement outcomes.
The report established four categories of members, ranging from those who are engaged and have good knowledge of pensions to those who are neither engaged nor have good pensions knowledge.
The report also found that technological advancements present an opportunity for innovation in engagement, both in terms of enabling more effective communication and in enabling greater segmentation of individuals to develop more effective engagement strategies.
Greater collaboration across the pensions industry and beyond will also be needed to develop innovative solutions to the engagement challenge.
Lauren Wilkinson, senior policy researcher at the PPI, said: “While increasing engagement is a key focus of both Government and industry, a significant proportion of the population is unlikely to achieve positive retirement outcomes under the current system without changes to engagement strategies and consideration of other mechanisms.
“These mechanisms are needed to support those who are unlikely, unable or unwilling to engage, or unlikely to achieve positive outcomes through engagement alone. The approach that is appropriate, be it engagement-focused or other policy levers, differs according to individual levels of financial capability and openness to engagement.
“Developing a better understanding of the range of needs and the varying capacity for engagement across the population is vital to the goal of delivering positive retirement outcomes for as many people as possible.”
In early February, there were reports that the state pension age could be upped to 71.
