By Rosemary Gallagher

Copyright scotsman

We’re now a few weeks into this year’s Pension Attention campaign, which started on 5 September and runs through to 27 October, with the aim of tackling the issue of too many people not saving enough for retirement. Pension Attention is now in its fourth year and the latest iteration focuses on the need to “strengthen your pension”, fronted by TV star Ross Kemp and financial coach and “pension trainer” Bola Sol. The industry-led engagement campaign is co-ordinated by the Association of British Insurers and Pensions UK, and supported by some of the biggest brands in the pensions industry. Another date to keep in mind is National Pension Tracing Day on 26 October, which is designed to help people find their lost pensions. Since 2018, the number of lost pots has jumped by 75 per cent. Organisers are urging people to “join the great pension treasure hunt” on the day the clocks go back and use the extra hour to try to locate their savings. Given the amount of speculation around what changes may be made to pensions in the Autumn Budget on 26 November, experts say the current Pension Attention campaign is already generating a substantial interest. Many consumers are unsure about what to do to protect their retirement pot and save more and are looking for guidance. The campaign sees the former Eastenders star in a fitness advert calling on Brits to “gain pounds” for the future, as almost 20 per cent of UK adults prioritise getting fit and healthy over saving for later life. New research found that over the past 12 months,37 per cent of Brits have made a healthy lifestyle change, such as changing their diet or improving their sleep, and 30 per cent have set a new health or fitness goal. Yet, when it comes to financial health, fewer than one in three have organised their finances for later life. On average, UK adults check their fitness progress more often than their pension balance – and they are more than twice as likely to track their daily steps and how many hours they’ve slept instead. The pension engagement drive is urging the nation to act now and engage with their retirement plans. It directs the public online to pensionattention.co.uk where they can check out three excercises they can take today to help their future selves: 1. Stretch your mind back to any past employers or pensions. 2. Check your form by logging into your pensions to see how much you’ve got. 3. Work out how much you might need for the future. As in previous years, the campaign continues to call on the wider pensions industry to get in shape and support its goals. By working with employers, the industry can help promote the “pension fitness plan” and get colleagues retirement ready, according to the campaign. Ross Kemp says: “A lot of us care about getting fit for the future – that’s why we hit the gym, eat better, and try to sleep more. But your pension is part of that too. With an easy three-step training plan, you could strengthen your pension and gain some serious pounds. Do your future self a favour and pay your pension some attention.” Bola Sol comments: “Planning for retirement is a lot like getting fit – you can get the best results by starting early and sticking with it. “Although people are enrolled in a workplace pension scheme, many lose track of old pots and don’t pay into them regularly. If you do one thing today, take some time to track down any pensions you may have paid into in previous jobs.” UK minister for pensions Torsten Bell adds: “We’re ramping up the pace of our pension reforms to make saving easier and ensure you get the most from every pound you’ve saved. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to take a few minutes out of their day to check their pension and plan for their retirement.” Data from the most recent Scottish Widows’ Retirement Report highlighted the scale of the problem of people not saving enough for later life. It found that 15.3 million UK individuals are at risk of falling short of minimum retirement standards and that a lack of pension confidence deters saving. According to the report, as many as two in five Brits could struggle to cover their basic needs on retirement. The findings also showed that those who regularly save into their pension are more confident in managing their finances (85 per cent), highlighting the link between pension management and financial confidence.  However, this isn’t the case for everyone across the UK. Those surveyed in Scotland are the least assured, with 44 per cent saying they aren’t confident about their pension savings. This drops to 32 per cent in London. Scottish Widows says this “postcode divide” needs to be urgently addressed. Speaking to Scotsman Money, Robert Cochran, a retirement expert at the firm, believes this year’s Pension Attention campaign has captured the imagination of the public, pointing to 670 pieces of media coverage in its first week alone. He says: “It’s good to have a time of the year where everybody’s talking about pensions, and it creates a bit of focus. It’s about trying to raise awareness and keep it going.” Looking forward, Robert predicts the introduction of a pensions dashboard will help people understand their retirement savings better. With the dashboard, people will be able to see their personal, workplace and State Pension information together in one place for free for the first time. The UK Government formalised its intentions to deliver pensions dashboards through the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022, requiring pension providers to be connected to the system. Robert explains that the dashboard will help ease the burden on individuals to answer such questions as whether the amount of pension they have accumulated will be enough for retirement. During this year’s Pension Attention season, Scottish Widows is running a series of 30-minute, expert-led webinar sessions under the three topics of “See it, Know it, and Grow it”. According to Robert, 28,000 people had already registered for seminars early in the campaign. He says: “Talking about success – that is way more people than we’ve had before. On the first day, 5,727 people joined, they asked over 1,000 questions, and the feedback has been brilliant. Some 80 per cent of those people confirmed they had downloaded our pension app.” He reports that the broad themes of questions being asked on the pensions webinars are around contributions and tax benefits, consolidation, nomination of beneficiaries, access and withdrawal, and investment. In the run up to last year’s Autumn Budget, speculation led some people to withdraw tax-free cash from their pensions. There is concern in the industry that is happening again as November approaches. Robert is worried many people don’t realise that you can’t unwind that withdrawal of money, saying: “Our guidance would always be not to panic.” As part of its drive to keep engaging with people on pensions in the long term, and not just during the campaign period, Scottish Widows is increasingly active on social media platforms in the hope that they will reach out to younger audiences – most notably TikTok. The pensions, retirement and life insurance giant has achieved more than 323 million video views since joining the online service. “You need trusted brands like ours to go on there and provide valuable, credible information,” says Robert. New analysis commissioned by TikTok found that 73 per cent of users feel the platform fosters open financial conversations, with88 per cent setting financial goals despite economic uncertainty. Some 44 per cent of Gen Z users regularly discuss money with peers, and 27 per cent plan to improve their financial education. To introduce an element of fun into pensions as another way to drive up engagement. Scottish Widows already has its Pension Mirror. The app guesses how old someone is and shows how their pension compares to others their age. In another development it is planning to launch a game where users can create their own Pension Powerlifter avatar. It said this is tapping into the TikTok trend for playing mini-games where people tap buttons on their phone to finish tasks and compete to get a high score. The Scottish Widows game will also include an element of pension education.