Gaps remain in workplace pension awareness a decade after the introduction of auto-enrolment, new research has revealed. 

Women and those on lower incomes are more likely to have never reviewed their pension.

The study commissioned by pension provider Standard Life found that 25% of females are likely to have never reviewed their retirement savings options compared to just 13% of men.

There is also widespread ignorance of what auto-enrolment is, according to the survey.

While 58% correctly defined auto-enrolment, almost a fifth (19%) don’t know what it was, with a further 23% unable to describe it correctly.

Jenny Holt, managing director for customer savings and investments at Standard Life, said: “It’s clear that auto-enrolment awareness and engagement levels could be improved further, and a decade on, it could be a good time to evolve the eligibility criteria.”

She suggested that reducing the age limit for auto-enrolment to 18 and removing the lower earnings limit would mean that more people could benefit in future.

She said: “Meanwhile, providing regular, relevant and targeted communication to employees, and offering financial education can further boost knowledge and confidence around the subject.”

Supporting employees with their wider financial wellbeing and demonstrating how retirement savings form a crucial part of this is a great way to boost engagement, she added.

Auto-enrolment has revolutionised retirement savings for millions of people with the UK workplace pension participation rate climbing from 47% in 2012 to 79% by April 2021.

Despite that almost one in five UK workers have never reviewed their pension, according to Standard Life, which is part of savings and retirement provider Phoenix Group.

More promisingly, 20% of workers say they review their pension once a year, 16% do so every six months and 12% every other month, according to the research.

For those that do review their pension, the main prompt for doing so is receiving their annual statement (28%).

Other key triggers include receiving communication from their pension provider (19%), receiving their monthly pay (16%), changing jobs (12%) and getting a promotion or pay rise (11%).