Are your pension communications understood?

79%

Our survey highlighted 79% of respondents found it easy to understand pension comms, yet fewer than 30% could define key terms such as transfer value, or explain the difference between DB and DC pensions.

80% +

More than 80% of people who have watched a video about their pension said they found it more useful that written communications.

20%

One in five pension holders have received at least one piece of communication about their pension that they suspected might be a scam.

37%

37% of pension holders have already turned to an AI platform to ask a question about their pension.

Last year, Pension Pulse asked whether your data was ready, and this year we took the question to your members.

Most tell us their pension communications are easy to understand, yet most can't explain what those communications actually said. As pensions dashboards bring members' information together in one place, and more of them turn to AI for answers, that gap is fast becoming a cost, a risk and a trust problem for schemes.

Pension Pulse 2026 draws on original research from 2,000 UK pension holders to show how members receive pension information, what they really understand from it, and where schemes are losing them along the way.

Heywood Pension Pulse

In 2026 the need for members to understand their pensions has become even more urgent, with pensions dashboards set to bring their information together in one place for the first time, more members turning to AI for the answers their schemes haven't given them, and the continued shift from DB to DC leaving more people managing multiple pots with less support around them.

I think a lot of good work goes into how schemes or providers think about
communicating, but usually they start from the position of knowing what they
have to say, rather than how the audience will understand it"

Chris Connelly
Chief Strategy Officer

Heywood Pension Pulse

Heywood Pension Pulse

Key highlights

Are you understood?

Contributors to the Pension Pulse

Heywood Pension Pulse

Pension Pulse 2025


Chris Connelly Chief Strategy Officer	Harriet Hirst Chief Client Relationship Officer	Tim Carpenter Head of Products and Propositions