Pension Confusion, Uncertainty and Trust in Scotland: An Empirical Analysis

In the context of the new automatic enrolment requirements for all eligible employees to make pension provision for their employees, and the importance of trust in pension provision, this article utilises data from the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, which, in its 2005 wave, asked correspondents specific questions regarding pension provision. We integrate two different empirical approaches in order to achieve a more robust understanding of pension confusion in Scotland. We find that pension confusion is dominated by pension uncertainty and myopia, but these may be reduced for those working in the financial sector. We consider the implications of these findings for the relationship of trust between employers and their employees, as well as for trust in government pension policy more generally.