More than a third (36 per cent) of people who started a new job in the past five years did not ask about their new firm’s pension scheme at any stage of the hiring process, a survey has found.
The study, from savings and investments firm M&G, found about a fifth waited until they received a job offer to ask, while 16 per cent waited until after they had accepted the role. A further 12 per cent only asked about the pension scheme at their final interview for the job.
Yet workplace pensions were the third most important factor when people were weighing up which benefits most influenced whether they accepted a role, with the salary being ranked as the most important and flexible working in second place.
M&G, which commissioned Opinium to survey 2,000 people across the UK in September 2025, said this suggests there is a gap between what people value and what they feel able to ask about when applying for a new role.
Separate research by M&G and the Social Market Foundation, also carried out by Opinium among 3,000 people, found that many workers struggle to keep on top of their pension admin.
Some 40 per cent of full-time workers surveyed did not know their employer’s contributions, 43 per cent have never changed their own contributions and 25 per cent have lost track of past pension pots.
Kerrigan Procter, managing director of corporate pension solutions at M&G, said: “When applying for a job, checking the pension scheme on offer is essential.
“Too many people are missing out because they don’t ask, or the information isn’t readily available.”
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He suggested that employers should make pension details clear and upfront in job adverts, adding: “When combined with a simple pension health check at each job move, that transparency could make a huge difference to people’s financial security. Pensions need to be impossible to overlook.”
Here are the top benefits that influenced workers’ decisions to accept a role, according to the survey for M&G, followed by the percentages of people who said they were influenced by them:
- Salary, 48 per cent
- Flexible working/work from home options, 25 per cent
- Workplace pension package, 22 per cent
- Generous holiday allowance, 22 per cent
- Bonus scheme, 13 per cent
- Professional development/training budget, 13 per cent
- Health insurance or other medical benefits, 13 per cent
- Support with health and wellbeing, 10 per cent
- Support with personal finances, 8 per cent