Research published by UK life insurance and pensions provider Friends Provident shows that nearly three quarters (73.6%) of Britons either absolutely do not trust or probably do not trust the UK government on pensions.
Of those with existing individual or company pension schemes, a mere one in ten (10.5%) would be happy with government involvement in running it. Moreover, just 3.3% of respondents thought the state pension would produce the best returns when compared to other popular forms of retirement planning, including employee and individual pension schemes.
Faith in the government’s ability to solve the pensions crisis is low, with 49.1% answering that it probably will not and 24% saying it definitely will not solve it. Meanwhile, 67.4% want an increased state pension, 64.1% want more incentives to save in personal schemes and 54.5% want auto-enrolment in workplace schemes. However, just 35% want compulsory savings into pensions.
Jeremy Ward, head of pensions marketing at Friends Provident, said: This research shows that the public doesn’t trust the government on pensions as much as it does the private sector.
This is because people think the government doesn’t provide enough information on retirement planning, that the state pension will provide comparatively inadequate returns and they overwhelmingly think that this government won’t solve the pensions crisis.