Pensions

Engagement with pensions and planning for the future helps people to work towards the standard of living they hope for in retirement. 

The UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing, coordinated by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), sets an ambitious goal of seeing five million more people understanding enough to plan for and thrive in retirement.  

To facilitate this, we continue to work towards the aims set out in our corporate strategy: 

• Better outcomes for customers
• Greater reach with high-quality services
• Progress delivery of the Pensions Dashboards Programme

We deliver pensions guidance services to the public to empower consumers to understand decisions that need to be made and what steps to take. Our channels offer support to help people understand their pensions from the start of their working life right through to retirement.

Our Pension Wise service, delivered by MoneyHelper, offers free, impartial information and guidance to over 50s with UK-based defined contribution pension pots. 

Specialist pensions advisors help people to understand their options and explain how these options work, what tax may be payable and how to look out for scams. It can be accessed via telephone or face-to-face appointments. 

It is designed to be a first port of call for individuals with defined contribution pension pots who are approaching retirement.  

Learn more about Pension WiseOpens in a new window. 

Through our MoneyHelper pensions contentOpens in a new window, people of all ages can access information and guidance about all aspects of pensions, including: 

• Pensions basics
• Pension problems
• State pensions
• Taking your pension
• Tax and pensions

MoneyHelper also provides a selection of tools that can help people to make positive pensions choices:

• Pension calculatorOpens in a new window
• Find a retirement adviserOpens in a new window
• Compare annuitiesOpens in a new window

Trained specialists also provide free and impartial guidance via the MoneyHelper pensions helpline, and can discuss topics including pensions and divorce, pensions safeguarding and self-employed pensions.

The Money Midlife MOT is a tool to help people assess their current financial situation, across a range of money topics. A personalised report will tell them what to prioritise and will link to guidance on how to improve their financial wellbeing from midlife through to retirement.

Visit the Money Midlife MOT toolOpens in a new window. 

The UK government has given the Money and Pensions Service the responsibility of delivering the MaPS MoneyHelper pensions dashboard. Pensions dashboards will enable individuals to access their pensions information online, securely and all in one place. The dashboards will provide clear information about an individual’s various pension savings, including their State Pension.

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) is responsible for designing and implementing the central digital architecture that will make pensions dashboards work. PDP are also developing standards, which will provide the rules and controls that will facilitate the ongoing connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem.

Learn more about the Pensions Dashboards ProgrammeOpens in a new window and see progress update reports. 

Our Regional Partnership Managers help employers to understand how best to support their workforce to understand and engage with their pensions.

Based across the UK, they bring with them an understanding of local financial wellbeing challenges and offer bespoke support to help build and implement financial wellbeing strategies.  

Find your local Partnership Manager

We carry out research to help inform our thinking in the pensions space and ensure our services are built with those who require most support in mind. 

Among these is the UK Adult Financial Wellbeing Survey: Future Focus, which looked at what individuals have done to plan their future finances and the extent to which they understand enough to make the related financial decisions.  

See our pensions research

Also see

• Corporate plan and strategy 
• UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing 
• MoneyHelper
• Financial wellbeing for employers