The UK pensions industry is confronting a “wall of change” in regulation, demographics and technology that demands a new approach to saver engagement and retirement planning, speakers at The Investing and Savings Alliance (TISA) Annual Conference 2025 have warned.

Opening the Rethinking Retirement panel, Aviva managing director, Michele Golunska, said the sector was grappling with overlapping pressures, from regulatory reform to the rise of artificial intelligence, which were reshaping how providers interacted with savers.

She noted that while around 80 per cent of banking customers now manage their accounts digitally, fewer than half of pension savers do the same, pointing to “a huge opportunity” to utilise technology more effectively.

Digital tools, she suggested, could not only re-engage disconnected savers but also help those who “want to learn more but don’t know where to start”.

Without greater innovation and support, she warned, “tomorrow’s pensions risk being poorer than today's”.

Some work is already underway, as Lloyds Banking Group head of pensions policy, Peter Glancy, emphasised the potential of pensions dashboards to spark behavioural change by showing savers the gap between what they have and what they need for retirement.

Earlier engagement could also help with decumulation issues, as Aegon managing director for customers, Andy Manson, argued the current decumulation model “doesn’t work”, stating that simply relying on defaults is unlikely to deliver good outcomes.

Real progress, he said, would depend on engaging members much earlier and more meaningfully, by “meeting customers where they actually are, not where we imagine they are”.

The comments come amid ongoing debate over how to modernise engagement, with both the government and regulators - through initiatives such as pensions dashboards and targeted support - seeking to bridge the continued advice and understanding gaps identified in the market.

The need to help savers navigate complexity with clear and accessible information was also highlighted by Money and Pensions Service (Maps) head of guidance, Charlotte Jackson, who agreed that the pensions landscape is undergoing a period of extraordinary upheaval.

Every aspect of daily life, she said, is being reshaped by regulatory, policy and social change - leaving around 11 million people “confused and overwhelmed” about their pensions.

This sense of instability was echoed by TISA head of retirement savings, Renny Biggins, who argued that short-termism in policymaking continued to undermine progress.

He called for longer-term thinking and cross-party consensus, describing the frequent shifts in pensions policy as a “thorn in the side” for providers trying to improve engagement.

This was not the only call to remember the long-term nature of pensions, as Glancy also cautioned that political and fiscal pressures could complicate progress in the industry, warning that the government faces a difficult balancing act in the upcoming Budget between short-term “emergency measures to balance the books” and the long-term reform work of the Pensions Commission.

These remarks reflect broader sector calls for greater consistency, particularly in light of the work of the new Pensions Commission and the industry’s push for a sustainable, long-term framework.

This article was first published on our sister title, Pensions Age.

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