Employee engagement and participation in company pension provision can be considerably improved by providing clear pension forecasts which combine workers’ anticipated state and company benefits on retirement, says employee benefits and pensions specialist AWD Chase de Vere Consulting. The national adviser believes HR directors can improve staff loyalty and an understanding of the value of employment benefits by providing employees with straightforward information on their likely total income in retirement.

To fill the need AWD Chase de Vere Consulting has launched an online service to provide employees with their state pension forecast as well as their employer’s pension forecast.

The state pension forecast gives employees in today’s money values, an estimate of the basic and additional state pension they may get based on their National Insurance contributions so far, as well as a projection of these benefits at state pension age.

The combined state pension and employer’s pension forecast will enable them to better assess whether their savings are on track, or whether they need to save more to achieve their income expectations in retirement.

AWD Chase de Vere Consulting was the first employee benefits consultancy to launch a combined pension forecast service when the Government originally introduced the service in 2004. Following the relaunch of the Department of Work and Pensions service this year, AWD Chase de Vere Consulting is now believed to be the first employee benefits consultancy to provide employees with combined forecasts, available online, at home or in the workplace.

David Smyth, Director of AWD Chase de Vere Consulting said: “HR Directors face a dilemma with pensions when employees fail to realise the value of the pension benefit they are being given by their employer while at the same time overestimating their likely retirement income. All too often people put pension planning on the back burner, no more so than in today’s difficult economic climate, yet it is essential that people plan ahead.

“Our new combined pension forecast services allows HR departments to deliver their accurate forecasts to their staff online, greatly improving engagement with and understanding of pensions.”