When it comes to financial planning, few people look at a single savings vehicle in isolation. Taking a holistic view of their finances can be the most effective way for people to identify the best savings tools for their short-, medium- and long-term future.
Employers now have a number of workplace savings tools (besides pensions) to help employees with their financial planning and saving for the future. But it seems that many have been slow to catch on to these. Just a quarter (24%) of respondents say they currently off er any form of workplace savings products alongside their pension scheme.
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Offering other types of workplace savings products alongside pensions enables employees to take advantage of tax breaks, such as those gained from sacrificing a bonus into a pension scheme, rolling maturing shares into a corporate individual savings account or shares from a share incentive plan into a group self-invested personal pension.
Employers appear to be increasingly recognising these tax efficiencies and making provisions for staff to take advantage of them. This year, just one-fifth of respondents say they make no provisions for staff to take advantage
of the tax breaks around workplace savings, which is a fall from 57% in 2011, 71% in 2010 and 67% in 2009.
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Read more from Employee Benefits Pensions and Workplace Savings Research 2012