Workplace pensions engagement can be significantly improved by embracing digital and hybrid retirement savings advice solutions, according to a white paper from digital financial planning solutions provider EV.

In the report, Hybrid and Digital Advice: Driving Transformational Change, at Last, EV argued that by embracing digital and hybrid advice tools, financial services firms and employers can deliver affordable and widespread access to financial planning for the millions of people who currently cannot, or are unwilling to, take traditional advice.

The report's authors added that while auto-enrolment has successfully driven up the workplace pension participation rate, the Department for Work and Pensions estimates that 38 per cent of the working-age population is still not saving enough to build an "adequate" retirement income.

EV managing director, Chet Velani, said that the number of savers requiring advice before, at, and in retirement is likely to remain huge in the relatively new world of pension freedoms.

At the same time, traditional advice services are currently out of reach for many people, while guidance often doesn’t go far enough.

"These days retirement income isn’t just about pensions," added Velani. "Many people have other assets to consider, but while pulling these together into a coherent financial plan is easy with the help of a qualified financial adviser, it’s much harder if you’re trying to do it on your own.

“Pension and employee benefits providers have the opportunity to step into this advice gap, engaging with consumers in the workplace via guidance tools that use the customer’s own data to explore scenarios and potential outcomes.

"By integrating these guidance tools with digital and hybrid advice solutions and delivering a consistent approach across all channels, providers can offer a stepping-stone into simplified advice or traditional advice services depending on the individual’s needs or preferences.”

At a roundtable discussion arranged by EV to coincide with the report's launch, participants from organisations such as Isio, LV=, Origin Financial Services, Ammonite, and St. James’s Place, agreed that more needed to be done to deliver advice and improve pensions engagement within the workplace.

The roundtable's attendees agreed that earlier engagement with investment and pension saving, particularly through the workplace, would better prepare people for the financial decisions they will face at different life stages.

Engaging people in the workplace through guidance tools is also seen as a stepping-stone to simplified advice, helping to broaden consumer access to advice while at the same time allowing providers to serve more clients effectively.

Speaking at the roundtable, Isio senior manager, Charlotte Gibson, said the average defined contribution (DC) saver takes the path of least resistance through their accumulation phase and often does realise until they reach between the ages of 50 and 60 that there are decisions to make.

"And then people are really scared of making those decisions, so they often put them off," she said.

"But retirement is changing, it’s not a cliff edge anymore. Workplace engagement is key to opening up the discussion around people’s working options post 50, which then feeds into the need to take advice around how to support their desired lifestyle through the different phases of retirement.”

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