UK managing director Simon Smallcombe believes such a move would help people to make necessary changes to improve their retirement outcomes.

“Putting such a thing in place would be a great step forward in terms of helping people to feel more confident about retirement,” he said. “It would enable people to have a conversation about what steps they can take to get a better retirement income.”

Alliance Bernstein managing director Tim Banks backed Smallcombe’s view: “I would endorse a mandatory healthcheck on pensions as it would really help people understand more about the options available to them. We’ve seen big shifts in pensions in terms of the move from DB to DC and who is going to tell people how these change affect them?”

The comments came at the launch of Axa Life Invest’s Cost of Living in Retirement report. The report found one in ten current pensioners found their retirement income was significantly less than they expected.

Over three quarters of those approaching retirement said they had no idea where their pension fund was invested while a similar proportion did not know how their pot was performing.

Despite this 43% of those in their 50s and 60s thought they would spend most of their income on holidays and leisure activities after the age of 75.

Certainty of income was highlighted as a key requirement with two thirds of those approaching retirement saying they would find it attractive to know the minimum amount of pension income they would receive up to 10 years in advance of their retirement.