Trusting in pensions: the challenge of responsible savers

Trust is a key resource. This is no more so than for successful private pension provision, given its complexity and long-term nature. In that context, this article examines the UK Government’s automatic enrolment reforms, as a result of which up to nine million adults could be making private pension contributions for the first time without having to take any positive action whatsoever. Using a sociological analysis of trust, and noting the duality of trust and control, it examines the implications of these reforms and the likelihood of their success. Examining trust and control in the context of both ‘passive’ and ‘active’ trust it suggests that in both cases trust may come to be grounded in the logic and interests of the finance, which has implications for the success of any government policy using private pensions as a means of ensuring adequacy of retirement income.