Chris Connelly
Yes. 37% of UK savers have asked an AI tool about their pension, rising to 60% of 25–34-year-olds, according to Heywood’s latest Pension Pulse research. Members want quick, clear answers. Schemes that make their own information clear and easy to find are best placed to make sure those answers are right.
How many people use AI to ask about their pension?
More than a third of savers have already asked an AI tool such as ChatGPT about their pension. In the recent issue of Pension Pulse, 37% said they had done so.
Younger members lead the way: 60% of 25–34-year-olds have asked AI about their pension. For many of them, an AI chat is now as natural a first step as a search engine. It is often more natural than a call to their scheme.
Wider research shows the same trend. In Lloyds Banking Group’s Consumer Digital Index (November 2025), 56% of UK adults said they had used AI to help manage their money in the past year. Of those, 39% used it for future planning, such as pension information.
Source: Heywood Pension Pulse 2026. A survey of 2,000 UK consumers holding many different pensions, conducted by Censuswide.
Why are members turning to AI for pension questions?
AI tools give members three things that traditional pension communications often don’t: speed, availability and simple explanations. A member can ask a question at 10pm, in their own words, and get an answer in seconds.
The research suggests plain language matters most. In Pension Pulse 2026, 47% of savers said jargon makes their pension communications hard to understand. When a letter or statement leaves a member unsure, asking an AI tool to explain it is an easy next step.
What are the risks when members rely on AI for pension answers?
The main risk is that members get a general answer to a personal question. AI tools can explain how pensions work in general, but they have important limits:
- They don’t know the member’s scheme. Benefit rules, retirement ages and options vary from scheme to scheme.
- They don’t know the member’s figures. An AI tool can’t see a member’s benefits, contributions or transfer options.
- They may be out of date or wrong. Answers can reflect old rules or mix up different types of pensions, or even answer based on the wrong scheme.
- They aren’t regulated advice. A confident-sounding answer, even when correct, is not the same as advice from a qualified source.
There is a security angle too. In the recent issue of Pension Pulse, 20% of savers said they had received a pension communication they suspected was a scam. And when members look for answers in many different places, it gets harder to tell which ones they can trust. Quick, responsive, understandable answers are easy to trust. Even if they are wrong.
What does this mean for pension schemes?
Members asking AI is a signal, not a threat: they want to understand their pension. The opportunity for schemes is to become the clearest, most trusted source of that understanding, so members get the right answer first time.
“Members asking AI about their pension tells us they want to understand it. The job for schemes is to make sure the clearest, most accurate answer comes from the scheme itself, in words members understand, at the moment they need it.”
Chris Connelly, Chief Strategy Officer, Heywood
There is a second reason to act. AI tools draw on what is published online. Clear, accurate, question-led information on a scheme’s own website is more likely to be found and cited.
How can schemes help members get the right answers?
- Answer common questions in plain language. Publish short, question-and-answer pages on your website for the topics members ask about most. This helps members directly, and it ensures AI tools find accurate answers.
- Give members their own figures in one place. A secure member portal such as Heywood Engage lets members see their benefits and run their own scenarios, which no AI tool can do accurately.
- Use video for complex topics. Pension Pulse 2026 also highlighted that 81% of people who had watched a pension video found it more useful than written communications. Personalised video tools, such as Heywood Video Engage, explain a member’s own benefits in a few minutes.
- Tell members where to check. Remind members to confirm figures and decisions with their scheme, and explain how to spot a scam.
- Listen to the questions you receive. The queries reaching your administration team show where communications fall short. Use them to decide which answers to publish next.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of people use AI to ask about their pension?
37% of UK savers have asked an AI tool about their pension, according to Heywood’s Pension Pulse research.
Which age group is most likely to ask AI about pensions?
Younger savers. 60% of 25–34-year-olds have asked an AI tool about their pension, compared with 37% of savers overall.
Can AI tools give accurate pension answers?
AI tools can explain general pension concepts, but they don’t know a member’s scheme rules or benefit figures, and they aren’t regulated advice. Members should check figures and decisions with their pension scheme.
How can pension schemes make their information easier for AI tools to find?
Publish clear, accurate answers to common member questions on your own website. Use question-style headings with a direct answer underneath and keep the information up to date.
Read the full findings
Download Pension Pulse 2026 to see what UK savers told us about understanding, video, AI and scams. To see how Heywood helps schemes give members clear answers, book an Engage demo.
