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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation on how to help savers, improve member communications, guidance, and decumulation products in pension schemes.
The consultation, titled Helping Savers Understand their Pension Choice, will explore what support pension schemes members need to help them make decisions about their savings. It will also look to understand what support and decumulation products are currently available to members and what could be offered in the future.
Additionally, the government hopes to find out, in particular from people saving into occupational pension schemes, what information and support they expect in the lead up to taking their pension, when they want to access their savings, after they have started to use them, what support occupational pension schemes currently offer their members, and what schemes are considering offering in the future.
According to the DWP, it welcomes input from individuals who want to understand savings, pension scheme members and beneficiaries, pension scheme service providers, other industry bodies and professionals, pension scheme trustees, and any other interested stakeholders.
The call for evidence will run for six weeks, ending on 25 July.
Paul Waters, head of digital wealth at Hymans Robertson, said: “The best outcomes will not be delivered by looking at a member’s individual pension schemes in isolation, but by helping them assess and make decisions on what can be delivered from all of their pension schemes in aggregate, along with any other sources of savings or wealth they may have.
“Savers face myriad issues when considering their pensions, not least lack of accessible support, and lack of awareness of where to turn. It is important that the DWP recognises this and builds it into its planning rather than creating more prescriptive rules and guidelines. The impact on individuals beyond financial considerations, such as health, must be accounted for, and these should inform both members and trustees.”
