Almost 17 million people in work in Britain (48 per cent) have never reviewed their pension plans According to new research conducted by Baring Asset Management (Barings).
Only one in five (21 per cent) working adults in Britain has reviewed their pension plans in the last year, with a further 12 per cent unsure of the last time they specifically reviewed their pension plans.
Of those who have reviewed their pension plans, 38 per cent (almost 7 million) went with the default option available to them. Of these, 19 per cent (1.3 million) said the explanation they received for how the funds would be invested was poor or it was not explained to them at all.
The research revealed a slight increase in the number of people making the investment decisions themselves.
According to Barings' consumer pensions research conducted in 2009, 15 per cent (or 2.9 million people) had made the allocation decisions alone and in 2010 this number had increased to 18 per cent (3.3 million).
The research revealed that an alarming 33 per cent (6.1 million) of those who had reviewed their pension could not say whether or not they had chosen the default option for their pension contributions.
Almost one in five (19 per cent) of those who didn't know where they had invested their pension were fast approaching retirement, aged 55 or above.
This apparent apathy towards pensions is mirrored in people's general attitude towards retirement planning.
The study revealed that an increasing number of Brits in work have never reviewed their financial plans for retirement.
Barings' study from 2009 found that 43 per cent of adults (15.4 million) had not considered how they would fund their retirement.
This year's study has seen that number increase by some 800,000 with 46 per cent (16.2 million) of the working population confessing to having never reviewed their financial plans for retirement.
"The fact that individuals seem to continue to take little or no interest in financially planning for their retirement is of real concern,” said Barings' Chief Investment Officer, Marino Valensise.
“The industry needs to improve the way in which pension advice is given so that people better understand the levels of risk and return that they can expect from their portfolios.
“With the markets behaving so turbulently over the past few years,
pension holders should be sure to review their schemes on an annual basis.
“I would urge them to seek independent financial advice when they do so to ensure their portfolios are correctly positioned for their needs and not just put into the default option funds for the sake of ease."
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