Behavioural trials designed to work out the best way to persuade people to use Pension Wise have begun.

The Money and Pensions Service (Maps) is overseeing the trials, which are being carried out with Aviva, Hargreaves Lansdown and Legal & General Investment Management.

The research will involve 4,300 interactions with savers. It is trying out two different approaches to directing savers towards Pension Wise when they first access their pension savings or call to discuss their options.

One method will see a provider offer to book a Pension Wise appointment for a saver, while the other involves them being transferred to the Maps to make an appointment with Pension Wise.

Evidence gathered from the trials will help both the Financial Conduct Authority and Department for Work and Pensions to establish a stronger method of nudging people who are applying to access or transfer their pension savings towards pensions guidance.

The number of Pension Wise appointments has almost trebled since the service launched in 2015, rising from 61,000, to 167,000 in 2019.

However, authorities would like to see far more people using the service.

Maps senior policy and propositions manager, Jackie Spencer, said that too many people were still making decisions about their lifetime savings without getting any form of guidance or advice.

“Working out the best way to encourage people to have these conversations has the potential to change people’s lives in retirement,” she said.

Aviva managing director of savings and retirement, Lindsey Rix, said that the trial was an important step in helping savers engage with their pension savings and to make sure that they were not making bad financial decisions.

“Everything we can do to boost customers’ confidence and awareness of the retirement choices and options available to them is a positive move,” said Rix.

“Alongside other initiatives, like the pensions dashboard, this is further evidence of collaborative work that is taking place between pension providers and industry bodies to engage customers with their savings and help them prepare for the future.”

Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst, Nathan Long, added that half of all retirement decisions still involve people cashing out of their pension entirely. He said that shifting this “rather worrying trend” could only be done by boosting the number of people getting access to quality help and guidance.

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