The Department for Work and Pensions have extended Life Academy’s contract to provide an educational experience to those in their 50s to increase their awareness of pension and retirement issues and to increase their financial awareness.
The initial two-year contract expired at the end of March 2008 but the Department for Work and Pensions has agreed to fund an additional 15 workshops to take place before March 2009.
This news means that we can ensure that more people in their 50s will have the opportunity to:
- raise their awareness of the changing nature of retirement
- raise their awareness of the pensions issues
- provide them with financial education to improve their financial capability, and give them the ability to engage in financial planning within a life planning context
- identify gaps in their preparation for retirement and show ways to meet these needs
- get the motivation to take action to adopt realistic aspirations and achieve them.
Results from the initial project
The initial project involved designing and delivering a one-day workshop to provide a focal point that through education and increased awareness might lead to changes in the attitudes, intentions and behaviours. The objective was to help individuals to make appropriate decisions about their retirement planning and take action in good time.
A key purpose of the workshops was to provide information, signposting and enhance the knowledge of retirement planning, financial planning, pensions, savings, taxation and investments.
The workshop participants came from the private, public and voluntary sectors and the self-employed. They all arrived at the workshops with a range of issues concerning their future. These included health and well being, relationships, using time and understanding life changes. 85% of the attendees were equally concerned about planning their finances and paid work. This closely tied in with the purpose of the workshops.
At various stages of the programme Life Academy collected data on the needs identified by participants concerning their retirement and money, such as:
- identification of some of the main changes in knowledge, attitudes, motivation, intention to act and action for key areas of retirement and money
- the impacts of the one-day educational workshops and resources on participants.
The evaluation measured the intention of the participants to take action at the beginning of the workshop, at the end of the workshop and what action had been taken as a result of the workshop 3 months later.
Three months after the workshop the final evaluation focused on actions taken with a sample of 50% of participants. The outcomes from year 1 revealed:
- 59% of respondents had obtained a forecast of their state pension
- 77% had looked at their occupational / personal pension fund statement and forecast
- 45% had sought financial planning advice
- 45% had increased their savings / investments for retirement
- 25% of those eligible had increased their contributions to their pension
- 27% had changed their intentions about retirement (with the majority intending to work longer).
The evaluations for the second year showed that in the 3 months after the workshop:
- 57% of respondents had obtained a state pension forecast
- 44% had looked at their occupational pension statement and 29% had looked at their personal pension statement
- 41% had sought financial planning advice
- 11% had opened a new pension plan with just over half of these opening a personal pension and just under half joining their employer’s occupational pension scheme
- 21% had increased their savings / investments for retirement
In year 2 participants were asked about their feelings towards retirement. On the five point scale, the outcome was:
| Very positive | A little positive | Neither positive or negative | A little negative | Very negative |
| Pre-workshop | 4% | 9% | 60% | 24% | 3% |
| After workshop | 43% | 43% | 11% | 2% | 1% |
| 3 months later | 44% | 29% | 20% | 6% | 1% |
Stuart Royston, Chief Executive of Life Academy said: “We believe that we had influenced the participants’ attitudes towards retirement and that this was likely to lead them to take a more positive attitude towards planning for their retirement and taking necessary actions. Our experience is that the greater the understanding about a topic, the greater it’s importance to the individual, and the greater the belief that they can make a difference, the greater is the likelihood that an individual will address (rather than ignore) the issue and the greater the chances that the individual will take necessary action.
“We concluded that well designed educational programmes, well targeted and well delivered will have a significant impact on the attitudes and behaviour of individuals. Certainly the participants appreciated having the opportunity to take a day out of their busy lives to focus on issues that do not normally rise to the top of their priorities.”
Life Academy is on the look-out for employers who would be interested in having these workshops for their staff who are in their 50s. If you’re interested, please contact Stuart Royston on 01483 301170 or stuart.royston@life-academy.co.uk.
