Top three things pension clients want help with right now
Max Gist reflects on the last few months in our industry
As pension engagement season comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on the hot topics and sticking points the clients are telling us the are facing.
At People’s Pension, we pride ourselves on helping you provide the support your clients need, and that starts with us sharing our insight from the conversations we are having. I soon realised that there were three specific topics that reared their heads again and again:
- Salary sacrifice
- Inheritance tax changes
- Engagement
1. Salary sacrifice
According to the latest HMRC data, an estimated 7.7 million employees in the UK use salary sacrifice. With that vast number of people involved in the scheme, it’s understandable that big changes could cause concern. However, there are still lots of employers not utilising the benefit and the 2029 changes shouldn’t put them off joining.
Supporting your clients throughout the changes
From 6 April 2029, only the first £2,000 of salary sacrifice each year will be exempt from National Insurance. But there's still great value in several years of savings for employer and employee at the current rate. Employers shouldn’t be put off salary sacrifice as there's significant value in it. If the issue is payroll readiness; our dedicated Payroll team can support with that. It’s important that employers do not bypass salary sacrifice because of forthcoming change when there is so much value in it right now.
2. Inheritance tax changes
Inheritance tax changes are coming in April 2027, but there are some vital facts to know ahead of these changes potentially altering savings behaviour. The main change is that unused pensions and death benefits will count towards your estate. Currently, inheritance tax is charged at 40% on estates over £325,000, or £500,000 if the home is left to children or grandchildren.
These changes are unlikley to affect the majority of people and members shouldn't be put off paying into their pension savings. I recommend preparing for these changes by researching three questions:
- How many of your client’s know about these changes? And how many are affected? This will allow you to understand how important these changes are to them.
- What actions can those members take? The BBC reported that one in five savers have already gifted money ahead of these changes.
- How do your clients structure their death benefits? Is there anything they can do to help minimise the impact of these changes on their employees?
3. Engagement
Let’s be honest, a question that your clients will never stop asking is - how do I get maximum value from my pension scheme? To do that, boosting member engagement is key.
At People’s Pension, we’re always introducing ways to boost engagement and support your clients. Here's how we performed in 2026, and how we're going to continue to support you in 2027.
- Our library of pension resources, The Studio, was launched in March. Home to hundreds of assets, it’s been visited by over 18,000 people and had over 6,000 asset downloads. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you’re missing out on a wealth of ready-to-use posters, flyers, email templates and much more.
- We knew the launch of our Pension Talk webinar series would be popular, but even we’ve been blown away by the uptake. For example, over 3,000 members registered for our Future You webinar, and almost 2,500 registered for our Pension Basics episode. And people aren’t just watching, employers asked almost 100 questions during our It’s No Sacrifice webinar. If you missed joining us live, you can always visit Pension Talk Extra to catch up on demand.
- You may have also noticed our first ever TV advert, featuring comedian and writer Joe Wilkinson. This only hit screens in October so we’re still collating its impact, but we’re all incredibly proud of achieving this milestone.
Max Gist - Head of Business Development
Look out for Max's engagement calendar.
