Research and analysis

Knowledge of specific facts about pension freedoms

Updated 16 April 2019

Pension Wise customers tend to have a greater understanding of the facts around what they can do with their pension pots than non-users, as judged by a series of 8 true or false statements in the evaluation surveys. In the report, Figure 4.5 highlights the proportion of people who are definitely correct (either selecting ‘definitely true’ or ‘definitely false’ depending on whether the statement was true or false). In the spirit of openness, we are now publishing the full table for this question, including the proportions saying probably true, probably false and don’t know for each statement.

While there will always be some customers that will answer some of these questions incorrectly, due to the complexity of the pensions sector generally, this data shows that these represent a small percentage of the Pension Wise customer base.

The main findings are that:

• Pension Wise customers are always more likely to answer these questions correctly than non-users, whether they are appointment customers or website users
• Pension Wise customers are always more definite about answering these questions correctly than non-users
• Pension Wise customers are less likely to answer ‘don’t know’ to these questions than non-users
• the combined proportions of Pension Wise customers who answer these questions incorrectly or don’t know is always smaller than the same proportion among non-users

True or false statements

You must start taking money from your pension as soon as you retire (false)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	76	11	87	4	6	10	3
Website users	82	7	89	2	1	3	7
Non-user	50	22	72	6	9	15	12

You can leave money in your pension pot, and arrange to take it as and when you need it (true)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	74	17	91	3	3	6	3
Website users	62	19	81	4	5	9	10
Non-user	37	42	79	3	4	8	13

You can mix the ways to take money from your pot (for example, use some to buy an annuity and leave the rest invested) (true)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	70	16	86	5	4	9	5
Website users	48	33	80	-	2	2	18
Non-user	37	42	79	2	4	7	14

You cannot move a pension pot from one provider to another (false)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	70	11	81	7	7	14	5
Website users	82	10	93	2	4	6	1
Non-user	45	26	71	5	9	15	14

You don’t have to buy an annuity with your pension money (true)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	68	12	81	7	4	11	8
Website users	68	12	80	1	9	10	10
Non-user	44	21	65	5	9	15	20

You can normally start taking money from your pensions when you turn 55 (true)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	68	19	87	4	3	7	6
Website users	63	22	85	1	7	8	7
Non-user	45	28	73	6	7	13	14

You must take a 25% tax-free lump sum when you access your pension pot (false)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	65	10	75	15	6	21	4
Website users	62	15	77	6	9	15	8
Non-user	45	21	67	10	8	18	15

You cannot take all the money from your pension in one go (false)

Type of service user or non-user	Definitely false %	Probably false %	Net false %	Definitely true %	Probably true %	Net true %	Don’t know %
Appointment customers	61	13	74	16	7	23	4
Website users	65	10	75	11	10	21	4
Non-user	25	23	48	26	15	41	10