LONDON, 24th August Panic among British workers about the state of their pensions seems to be easing. The number of scheme members requesting their projected pension based on their current savings plan has fallen by 9% since last quarter, according to the latest figures from the Aon Consulting Pensions Admin Tracker. This is still 36% higher than the corresponding quarter in 2008, Aon Consulting, the leading employee benefits and risk management firm, said.

Similarly, as equity markets claw back previous losses and talk of economic recovery increases, pension savers are displaying improved levels of confidence as witnessed by a fall of 17% in the number of requests for information regarding the current pound-value of their pension pot.

The Aon Admin Tracker analyses a sample of nearly 350,000 scheme members from 35 typical UK defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) schemes to provide an insight into how the economic environment is impacting public attitude and behaviour towards pensions.

The Q2 Aon Admin Tracker Key findings:

· Retirement quotations decreased by 9%
· Pension scheme members enquiring about how much their pension fund is currently worth (transfer out quotations) has dropped by 17%
· The number of new workers joining schemes fell by 37% (a total decrease of 73% since June 2008) mirroring the fall in recruitment activity
· Only 0.01% of the sample made changes to where their DC pension savings are invested, the same as last quarter

Colin Hamilton, commercial director at Aon Consulting, said: “The reduction in member requests for retirement information and transfer out quotations during periods when leading stock markets exhibit substantial increases suggests that confidence in retirement savings is returning.

However, if stock market performance is dictating confidence levels among savers, this would suggest a lack of understanding of the long term nature of pension saving.
 
Effective member communication and education has an essential role to play in explaining the long term nature of saving for retirement and ensuring that members are well informed during periods of economic volatility so that they do not rely on equity markets to solely dictate their concerns."

Ends

About The Quarterly Aon Admin Tracker:
The Aon Admin Tracker analyses a sample of nearly 350,000 from over 35 typical UK defined contribution and defined benefit schemes to provide an insight into how public attitudes and behaviour towards pensions is changing.

For more information:
Josephine Corbett / Leo Wood
Josephine.corbett@fd./com  /  leo.wood@fd.com
0207 269 7250  /  0207 269 7137
07868 739 717  /  07737 679 460

David Skapinker
David.skapinker@aon.co.uk
020 7505 7478

About Aon Consulting
Aon Consulting Worldwide is among the top global human capital consulting firms, with 2008 revenues of $1.358 billion and more than 6,300 professionals in 117 offices worldwide. Aon Consulting works with organisations to improve business performance and shape the workplace of the future through employee benefits, talent management and rewards strategies and solutions. Aon Consulting was named the best employee benefit consulting firm by the readers of Business Insurance magazine in 2006, 2007 and 2008.  For more information on Aon, please visit www.aon.mediaroom.com.

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