NEST Corporation today published the results of its initial research into the understanding of current pension terms amongst its target audiences.
Extensive desk research followed by qualitative testing with potential members and their employers has allowed NEST to develop a phrasebook of key terms, phrases and principles aimed at helping future NEST members to better understand pensions. The phrasebook can be downloaded from NEST Corporation’s website.

To continue the work, NEST has also set up a plain-speaking forum and published an interactive game to encourage people to carry on the conversation about pension terms.

Launching the research and phrasebook at an event to debate pension communication challenges, Lawrence Churchill, NEST Corporation Chair, said:

"This is the first time that pension terms have been independently researched with our target audiences. Our research suggests that using simple and appropriate terms can reduce barriers to understanding. The way we talk to our members and employers will be critical; many won’t have much, if any, experience of pensions or other complex financial products.

We will develop our approach over time, but after 14 months of careful research and development this is a very credible foundation. We hope our work contributes to the drive to reduce jargon in the financial services world more generally."

Minister for Pensions, Steve Webb said:

"I welcome NEST’s phrasebook as a big step forward in making pensions easy to understand. Employers and workers alike find pensions very complicated. As we move forward with radical reforms to automatically enrol people into workplace pensions it is vital that we use clear and simple language to make that process as straightforward as possible."

Tim Jones, Chief Executive, said:

"NEST is launching this year, and our potential future members and their employers are telling us how they want us to talk with them. It’s really exciting to get to the stage when we start to understand how we will talk about NEST. We also recognise the great work others have done – we want to join with them to encourage a consistent approach across the sector."

Helen White, Director of Life and Savings at the Association of British Insurers said:

"We are facing a pensions crisis in this country with many people not saving enough for a comfortable retirement. In 2012 automatic enrolment could begin to revolutionise pension saving and see millions more people saving for their retirement. It is crucial we use the next 12 months to get people ready for this huge change and we welcome the work NEST is doing. We need to make sure that we, as a pensions industry, are communicating in the clearest and simplest terms with people so that they understand why it is good to save and what they can expect from their pension."

KEY FACTS ABOUT THE NEST PROJECT

1) This work was developed over 14 months. This consisted of:

• an initial review of UK-based pension providers, international markets, financial services advisers, plain English organisations and other industry sources to look at existing research, advice and best practice relating to language and financial services/pensions.
• the development of two narratives for NEST – one for employers and one for workers – which included terms within descriptive text. These were then reviewed by an invited group of external stakeholders including journalists, pensions organisations and bodies representative of our audiences.
• qualitative research using these narratives, through a series of mini focus groups and in-depth interviews with workers and employers. Terms were tested in isolation; in context, with a definition of the term; using an explanation that didn’t include the term itself; and using different words and words with similar meanings, where appropriate.

2) Terms were tested in isolation; in context, with a definition of the term; using an explanation that didn’t include the term itself; and using different words and words with similar meanings, where appropriate.

The research helped us to identify some best practice principles for words and phrases NEST should use. It was suggested we should:

• keep it simple, but don’t patronise
• be open and honest and don’t baffle with jargon or mystify with complexity
• use clear signposting and provide clarity on what needs to be done next where appropriate
• provide step-by-step instructions where possible.

Our research also identified four categories of words and phrases:

• terms that can be used as they are, without change or explanation
• terms that can be used but require a definition when they first appear within a piece of communication
• terms that should be avoided and not used
• terms that should not be used but need to be replaced with an alternative.

Download our phrasebook (PDF, 541KB)