Jill Henderson, Head of Strategic Workplace Relationships, Scottish Widows
When Pension Engagement Season launched with the 'Pay Your Pension Some Attention' campaign, fronted by actor Ross Kemp, it generated more positive media coverage around pensions than I've seen in some time.
The campaign was simple and relatable, cleverly linking pension awareness to something many people care about: their fitness. It encouraged them to "strengthen their pension" and "gain pounds" for their future.
The approach clearly resonated with the nearly 4 in 10 (37%) * UK adults who adopted a healthier lifestyle in the past year, according to the campaign research. It seems that people like to regularly track their steps and sleep, yet just 29% had taken steps to organise their later life finances. *
The campaign fired people's imagination – and the media's seasonal focus on pensions. It was brilliant to see our TikTok pension coverage on ITV's ‘Lorraine' which has reached millions looking for information about their pensions and wider finances on social media. I was delighted with how much impact our own Pension Engagement Season campaign had on our members, too.
It was a blockbuster period, and I'd go as far to say that all of this has sparked a movement, with more members than ever wanting to find out more about their pension and how to grow it.
Insight driven campaign
This year we had a record-breaking year, doing pension engagement at a scale we haven't done before.
What made it such a success? We worked closely with our Employer Innovation Forum and reviewed member feedback, ensuring we were bringing insight from all of our ongoing engagement activity to ensure we were bringing content to our members based on their needs. Our bitesize webinars helped members See, Know and Grow their pension, on a scale we've never seen before.
Each session included a live Q&A, giving members the chance to ask our experts their own questions. We answered over 1,600 questions live, covering all topics from beneficiaries to investments to transfers. These sessions engaged over 15,000 members, with more than 80% rating the sessions 5 out of 5.
All this encouraged even more members to download the Scottish Widows app, find out what they had in their workplace pension and use tools and tips to grow their savings.
Blockbuster year isn't over
Yes, we still have our award-winning Pension Mirror as a brilliant, fun way to spark interest and encourage people to download the app. But if we want to keep those strong green shoots of engagement growing and spreading, we need to stretch our thinking.
Which is why we've taken a quite different – and bolder – approach to encouraging even more of our members to use the Scottish Widows app. If they download the Scottish Widows app, register and start using it before 9 March 2026, they have a chance to win £25,000.** Because we know the more engaged people are the better outcomes they're likely to have.
We're also using gamification to make pensions more fun (with a serious purpose behind it) with our Pension Power Lift. We launched the game during the annual Pensions UK Conference this Autumn, and it is now live and complementing our existing online tools to help people plan better and save more.
We know pension engagement is still a challenge for everyone in the industry and it's why we never let up on our support – it's an absolute passion, not just during Pension Engagement Season, but all year round.
*Conducted by OnePoll in August. Survey: Based on 2,000 UK adults aged 18 and over.
**For the full T&Cs please visit www.scottishwidows.co.uk/app £25,000 app incentive.
