- New TPR/FCA podcast examines the need to understand and act
on diverse saver needs.
- Trustees urged to respond to FCA Targeted Support
consultation as it nears end.
Pension professionals should take proactive steps now to deliver
guided retirement solutions aimed at helping savers make the
right choices.
In a joint podcast, The
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator
(TPR) say the industry needs to develop a much deeper
understanding of the diverse needs and profiles within their
scheme membership to ensure savers make the right decisions at
retirement.
Nike Trost, the FCA's Head of Department - Asset Management and
Pensions Policy, and Patrick Coyne, Interim Director of Pensions
Reform at TPR, call on the industry to innovate in the design and
delivery of retirement income solutions tailored to different
saver types.
They discuss how the FCA's Targeted Support proposals – designed
to allow firms to make specific recommendations for groups or
cohorts of consumers around pensions and investments – and
the Pension Schemes Bill plans for guided retirement solutions
are complimentary policies.
And they urge trustees to respond to the FCA's consultation on
Targeted Support.
The podcast notes that using data such as age, pot size, and
retirement proximity is essential to deliver tailored
communications, targeted nudges, and fit-for-purpose decumulation
solutions.
Patrick Coyne said:
“Millions could be drifting toward an uncertain retirement.
Government data shows over 14 million people are under-saving for
later life. That is why we have to make sure the system provides
them real value for money and that people are supported into the
right retirement pathway for them. Nobody saves into a pension
expecting a pot, they expect a sustainable retirement income and
with these reforms, and the revived Pensions Commission, we
have a real chance to make that happen.”
Mr Coyne said that with Targeted Support becoming a new kind of
regulated activity, trustees should respond to the FCA's
consultation with examples of the kind of support they would like
to give within the existing framework – especially ready-made
suggestions for in-scheme benefits – to find out if this could be
delivered themselves or with an FCA-authorised partner.
He added: “We know trustees want to support members, but
uncertainty around the advice boundary is a real barrier. Now's
the time to share examples and help shape future rules.”
Nike Trost said:
“I think there being more support available for consumers both in
their savings journey and importantly, at the point of
retirement, has to be the success we aim for
“It's about consumers being offered really good product choices
to choose from in a really simple way.”
Notes for editors
- Listen to the TPR/FCA podcast, with a
full transcript.
- The FCA's consultation, Supporting consumers'
pensions and investment decisions: proposals for targeted
support, closes on 29 August 2025. It sets out proposals to
that would give millions more people help navigating their
financial lives with support on pensions and investments.
- This would allow firms to offer a new type of help called
‘targeted support' and make suggestions to groups of consumers
with common characteristics. These could include people who may
be currently drawing down on their pension unsustainably, not
saving enough for retirement or who have excess cash sitting in a
current account.
- Targeted support seeks to support consumers in making these
informed choices, while default pension benefit solutions (as
part of guided retirement) seek to create a default decumulation
option for consumers that do not or cannot engage.
- The Pension Schemes Bill 2024-25 will implement Guided
Retirement Options which will place duties on trustees to provide
default solutions for their members, unless the member chooses to
opt-out. The default will provide an income in later life,
including consideration for longevity protection – which could
include CDC provision.
- The Government has revived the landmark Pensions
Commission to examine why tomorrow's pensioners are on
track to be poorer than today's and make recommendations for
change.
- According to the latest government data published in July
2025, around 14.6 million working-age people in the UK are
under-saving for retirement. This represents 43% of the
working-age population, measured against the Target Replacement
Rate (TRR) benchmark, which assesses whether individuals are on
track to maintain their standard of living in retirement.
(Source: DWP Official Statistics – Analysis of Future
Pension Incomes 2025 – Published 21 July 2025)
- TPR is the regulator of work-based pension schemes in the UK.
Our statutory objectives are to:
- protect members' benefits
- reduce the risk of calls on the Pension Protection Fund
- promote, and improve understanding of, the good
administration of work-based pension schemes
- maximise employer compliance with automatic enrolment
duties
- minimise any adverse impact on the sustainable growth of
an employer (in relation to the exercise of the regulator's
functions under Part 3 of the Pensions Act 2004 only
