A nation of savers, built on companies of savers.
That was the challenge laid down by Michael Royce, of the Money and Pensions Service, to Financial Wellbeing Forum '23 attendees.
We heard how creating the conditions for savings habits should be foundational to an employer's financial wellbeing strategy. And we heard world-leading experts share how flipping a default - from opt-in, to opt-out - is one example of how behavioural science can transform the financial security of a workforce.
The takeaways:
• Saving is not easy for everyone. It is not a one-size-fits-all subject
• People often have greater capacity to save than they realise - but telling them, or 'education' is not enough
• Employers can go further: from well-timed nudges, to offering better propositions than high street banks, to building savings around their pay
• More than a third are saving for the first time, through this approach
• Switching the default to automatic enrolment in workplace savings drove uptake from 16% to 71% for Co-op and Bupa