Welcome to the sixth chapter of the Visions of Britain 2020 project, commissioned by Friends Life with research and analysis undertaken by ourselves at the Future Foundation. We undertook quantitative research among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 respondents, conducted a focus group and interviewed several pensions experts.

In this chapter we explore the issues of pensions and auto-enrolment, a timely analysis with the government’s long-planned NEST pension scheme due to launch next year; employees without a private pension will be automatically enrolled (‘auto-enrolled’) into the NEST scheme.

We have explored the root causes of the problem, looking beyond the well-trodden issues of demographics, apathy, inertia and short-term consumerism. One of our key findings is a widespread sense that it is not just down to the individual to ensure their own financial future; people place a lot of responsibility on the government and even on their employers not only to ensure their financial security but also to help them out with life’s problems and to make life less complicated and stressful.

We found that while people are well-disposed to concept of saving they retain a great deal of scepticism about pensions specifically. The latter are seen as distant, intangible and inaccessible. Issues of confusion, lack of transparency and lack of clear information are barriers to pension saving; an important learning for the government as well as the industry.

Richard Nicholls, Future Foundation