Public trust in the pensions industry has dropped for the first time in five years, according to an annual survey.

The consumer view of the pensions industry dropped to 5.23 out of 10 for 2025, down from a peak of 5.26 in 2024, according to Trafalgar House’s Trust and Confidence Index.

Previous years had shown a steady rise, from 4.46 in 2020, 4.63 in 2021, and 4.95 in 2023.

The score of 5.23 shows consumer indifference towards pensions, according to Daniel Taylor, client director at Trafalgar House.

He said: “Digging into the data, the most common response to our question about trust in the pensions industry was a flat 5 out of 10—a clear sign of indifference. Over 20% of respondents chose this neutral score, but it’s at the extremes where the real concern lies.

"Alarmingly, 7.3% of people gave a score of 0, indicating no trust at all in pension providers. In contrast, only 3.8% awarded a full 10, suggesting deep trust is rare. 

“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.”

Close to a fifth (16%) of respondents said they do not know how much they trust pension providers. Women were considerably less likely to know (21%) if they trust the industry than men (11%).

• Pensions administrator Trafalgar House surveyed over 2,000 over 18s at the start of 2025. Using a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 being ‘not at all’ and 10 being ‘a lot’, respondents were asked to rate their answers to a series of questions.