Public trust in pensions declines for the first time in five years
The government is facing a fresh headache in its pension reform plans as new research shows trust in the industry declined for the first time in five years.
Average trust in the industry has dipped to 5.23 out of 10, from a peak of 5.26, according to the fifth Trust and Confidence Index released by Trafalgar House, marking its first drop since the index began in 2020.
Daniel Taylor, client director at Trafalgar House, said: “While the shift in trust might seem minor, it’s concerning nonetheless.
“Digging into the data, the most common response to our question about trust in the pensions industry was a flat five out of 10—a clear sign of indifference.”
One in five chose the neutral score, but Taylor said, “It’s at the extremes where the real concerns lie.”
The fall in trust comes as the government plans major reforms in the pension industry to invest more in Britain.
This week, seventeen significant pension funds signed the Labour-backed Mansion House Accord, a voluntary commitment to allocate ten per cent of funds to private markets, and at least five to UK assets.
The Treasury has banked on £50bn of unlocked funds between now and 2030 through the move.
‘Serious failure’ in the pension industry
The Trust and Confidence index showed that over seven per cent of respondents gave a score of zero, while just under four per cent awarded a perfect score.
“This raises an important question: Is this level of mistrust truly justified, or does it reflect a broader issue—perhaps a fundamental lack of understanding? People tend not to trust what they don’t fully understand — and for many, pensions remain a distant and complex concept,” Taylor said.
Of the respondents, 15.8 per cent said they “don’t know” how much they trust pension providers.
Taylor said: “This isn’t just uncertainty – it signals a serious failure by the industry to communicate its value in a way that resonates.”
Over 2,000 UK adults were surveyed for the research at the beginning of 2025.
The mounting mistrust ahead of the Mansion House Accord makes selling the government’s pension reforms increasingly difficult.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride slammed the new pension plans on Tuesday, telling the Commons: “Pension savings should never be there to dig a Chancellor out of the economic hole that she has made”
Treasury minister Torsten Bell replied that there is “wide consensus about the direction of travel to invest more in private assets” and the agreement set out by the Chancellor is a “voluntary agreement led by the industry”.