Reviewing a decade of Pension Freedoms

Ten years ago, the Pension Schemes Act 2015 triggered a transformative moment for UK retirement. For the first time, ordinary people could access their pension funds flexibly from age 55, replacing the rigid annuity-dominated landscape with unprecedented choice. The policy stunned and excited the sector in equal measure—promising freedom for savers while creating unforeseen consequences.

A decade on, the questions remain urgent. Has this groundbreaking legislation delivered on its promise? Are consumers truly more pension-savvy, or have they been exposed to greater complexity and risk? Do they have the right support and products to navigate their options? What needs to happen to ensure pensions deliver for all?

To answer these questions, we spoke to leading voices from across the pensions ecosystem—David Fairs (PASA), Amanda Hall (The Pension Lab), Glynn Williams (Moneyfarm), Alistair McQueen, Blair Walker (Waracle), Amira Norris (Altus Consulting, part of Accenture) and Warren Bright (Standard Life). Their collective insights revealed an industry at a crossroads: facing unforeseen consequences like pension scams and consumer confusion, grappling with outdated technology and a regulatory treadmill, yet recognising the transformative potential of modern digital infrastructure and AI.

What you'll discover in this series

We've distilled these conversations into five digestible articles, each exploring a critical challenge and opportunity from the Freedoms.

• Article one: The Pension Freedoms decade: a legacy of unforeseen consequences. How the policy created a culture of instant gratification, opened the door to scammers, and left consumers overwhelmed by complexity.
• Article two: Taming complexity: can AI solve the Pension Freedoms puzzle? How AI could shift from cautious back-office applications to potentially transformative consumer-facing tools like AI-powered avatars and dynamic calculators.
• Article three: Post-Freedoms technology: why it must be Lego, not concrete. The industry consensus emerging on modern pension systems: modular architecture, data standardisation to fix broken transfer processes, and seamless integrations for holistic retirement planning.
• Article four: Escaping the regulatory treadmill sparked by Freedoms. How providers spending 50%–70% of their budgets on compliance can escape by outsourcing the commoditised, heavily regulated administration layer to specialist partners.
• Article five: Is your operation fit for the post-Freedoms era? A practical 10-point checklist to assess whether your organisation is truly ready for what comes next.

Why now matters The urgency is real. Many retirees over the past decade still had the safety net of defined benefit pensions. The true challenge is arriving now, as a generation with mostly defined contribution savings (full responsibility but often limited financial literacy) enters retirement. Industry support has never been more critical.

Whether you're a head of product, a CTO navigating integration complexity, a COO fighting operational inefficiencies, or a CEO balancing growth with governance, this series provides practical insights and frameworks to navigate the second decade of Pension Freedoms.

The reactive phase is over. The blueprint for modernisation is clear. The question is whether your foundation is ready for what comes next.

If you would like to explore how our SIPP solutions can help secure your operational foundation, access our SIPP factsheet for further insight.