Over a third (37 per cent) of UK employees say their workplace pension was either not clearly explained or they do not remember the explanation, despite 89 per cent of employers feeling confident about explaining their scheme to workers, according to research by Penfold.

This gap in comprehension within the UK’s workplace pensions system was highlighted in Penfold’s The Pension Gap report, which found that 85 per cent of employers were under the impression that employees fully understood the workplace pension scheme.

Meanwhile, 26 per cent of employees said they felt anxious or confused about their pension.

Additionally, engagement remained mixed, with 40 per cent of workers checking their pension monthly, while 9 per cent had never reviewed their pension at all.

Trust was also limited, with just 29 per cent of employees most reliant on their provider for explanations, despite 65 per cent of employers viewing their pension offering as a competitive advantage.

Commenting on the findings, Penfold CEO and co-founder, Chris Eastwood, said that work to communicate pensions should not end at automatic enrolment.

“Our research shows a clear gap between what employers think they’re communicating and what employees are actually taking away,” he said.

“Many workers still aren’t sure how their pension works, what they’re paying in, or what it could mean for their future.”

He explained that communications should be a continuous and regular process, but the answer was not simply sending people more information.

“If millions of workers still find pensions difficult to understand, the industry needs to make them easier to engage with in the first place," he added.

Eastwood said that providers also have a responsibility to make pensions easier to understand, stating: “That means helping people clearly see what they are saving, what their employer is contributing and what that could mean at retirement.”

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