Ian Bird, Business Development Director, Foster Denovo and Director Secondsight responded to yesterday’s Autumn Statement stating, “In an Autumn Statement with an objective to focus on health, social care and pensioners, big changes to pensions were announced.

The weekly basic state pension will rise by £3.35 and taking the flat rate state pension to £119.30 from April – the biggest increase in pension payments in 15 years. For new pensioners, there will be a single-tier pension payment of £155.65 from next year.

Whilst we welcome these measures there have been phenomenal changes in the complex pensions landscape over the past few years, including auto-enrolment and Pensions Freedom. Many people have superficial knowledge about these issues, they are uncertain about their options and in many cases, what income they can expect when they retire.

There is a greater need for good financial advice and financial education both in schools and in the workplace.

Changes to the state pension for instance have been fraught and Pensions Minister Baroness Ros Altmann admitted earlier this month that the new flat rate state pension was ‘mis-sold’[i] to the public. She too highlighted the need for financial education[ii] recently saying “I am absolutely sure that we really do need to embed financial education and guidance somehow into the auto-enrolment process.” We are seeing greater pressure on companies to give employees up to date and accessible information and help them plan their financial future. Increasingly, we expect companies to turn to workplace financial education programmes fill in this gap.