Pension Wise service evaluation: research with 2019/20 customers

The report looks at the experiences and outcomes of customers who used the Pension Wise service in 2019/20. This includes customers who booked face-to-face or telephone appointments as well as those using the digital self-serve guidance on the Pension Wise website.

Pension Wise is a national pensions guidance service backed by Government and delivered in partnership with other organisations. The service provides free, impartial guidance to those who are aged 50 and over with defined contribution pensions that have not already been accessed. It provides information and guidance on the options available to people when accessing their pension money, which expanded following the introduction of new pension freedoms in April 2015. From January 2019, Pension Wise became part of the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS).

Ipsos was commissioned to carry out this research to explore customer satisfaction and advocacy for Pension Wise. It also aimed to understand the impact of the service in terms of customer’s understanding of their pension options, customers’ confidence in avoiding scams and the positive steps customers are taking towards finalising their pension access arrangements. It follows a previous set of comparable surveys that Ipsos carried out in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Findings from this research will be used to support future design and delivery of the Pension Wise service.

Customers report high satisfaction with the Pension Wise service and feel they have improved their understanding of their pension options:

• More than nine out of ten customers using the appointment service (94%) are satisfied with their experience of Pension Wise.
• Nearly all (97%) of appointment customers are likely to recommend the service to others or have already done so.
• Around nine in ten appointment customers felt that it helped them consider their options more thoroughly (91%) and that they learned something new (89%).

Self-serve web customers who have made their pension access arrangements are, following their online interaction with the service, more likely than a comparable set of people who did not use the service to take steps to inform themselves prior to making these arrangements:

• 93% of self-serve web customers checked how much tax they would pay based on their chosen options (versus 71% of non-users).
• 34% of self-serve web customers shopped around for quotes from other pension providers (versus 19% of non-users).
• 77% of self-serve web customers looked into any charges they might incur based on their chosen options (versus 53% of non-users).

Technical note

• Ipsos carried out an initial survey of Pension Wise appointment bookers over the phone and online between October 2019 and January 2020.
• This was with a sample of 2,282 UK adults aged 50+ who booked a telephone or face-to-face appointment with the Pension Wise service between September and November 2019. Of these, 2,148 completed their appointments – these are the main group analysed in the report, and referred to as Pension Wise customers.
• A follow-up survey was then conducted between January and March 2020, with 857 Pension Wise customers who had taken part in the initial survey.  
• An initial online survey was also carried out with 600 self-serve web customers between October 2019 and May 2020, with a follow-up survey administered with 298 self-serve web customers between January and July 2020.
• In addition, 770 people who did not have a Pension Wise appointment but would have been eligible for the service in the last 12 months were also surveyed in February and March 2020. This helped evaluate the impact of the Pension Wise service on the decisions customers made about their pension options, relative to those who were eligible but did not have a Pension Wise appointment.
• The results are weighted to represent the profile of Pension Wise customers.