TPAS calls for pensions guidance development to be more user-focussed

The organisations have created a joint report, following a joint event which looked at how financial services can better engage users by designing guidance and online help with a focus on people’s needs at the heart of the process.

The report said the industry needs to foster collective responsibility and create more human, engaging connections to those the industry serves - using technology which is “providing unparalleled innovation”.

The report highlights that “not all people are users, but all users are people”, therefore the organisations feel that when products and technology are designed people should be at the forefront of development.

Michellle Cracknell, chief executive of TPAS, said: “At TPAS, our belief and experience are that most people realise that pensions are important. But they can be complex and difficult to understand, which is why our hypothesis for the day (of the joint event) was, ‘People are interested in pensions; we need to do more to ensure that all products and services are designed for people’.”

TPAS customer insights, used in the report, found that people want pensions guidance and help to be personal and tailored, to offer one-to-one help through channels such as telephone and web chat.

They also said guidance needs to be offered on an independent and impartial basis, so that people can trust the information that they are given and feel able to share all the relevant facts.

Final comments included that guidance needs to be actionable because too many next steps will result in inaction.