The report by the Centre for Ageing Better, called Developing the mid-life MOT, published today (25 September 2018), presents different case studies from Aviva, Legal and General (L&G), Mercer and The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS), all of which had piloted their own mid-life MOT services.
It came after John Cridland's review into the state pension age called for a better way of supporting people aged 40 to 60 through their careers and lives.
All four organisations agreed on the benefits of engaging both employees and self-employed people in to help them plan their careers and finances and think about their health in later life.
The report explored how the service could be provided, with some of the pilots finding that one-to-ones, online and group seminars were viable options.
The pilots found that there was demand for the service on behalf of the the participants in each of the pilot schemes who said they valued the combination of different types of guidance on, finances, health and careers.
The report said: "Insights from the pilots suggest the need for a mid-life MOT, particularly around the area of financial and pension planning.
"Across the pilots, demand for support was, in most cases greater than envisaged. Organisations did not have to persuade people to participate. In some cases, sessions had to be extended to accommodate demand. This led to considerations about organisations’ future capacity to roll out the mid-life MOT to all workers."
Patrick Thomson, senior programme manager, Centre for Ageing Better said that the foundation will continue to work with the government, providers and employers on the service.
"As more of us live longer, we need to act earlier in life to enable us to stay healthier, work for longer, and save more if we are to enjoy our later lives,” Mr Thompson said.
"People in mid-life could benefit from better access to information and advice to plan and prepare for their later lives. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with government, employers and providers to ensure everyone who needs support can benefit and to test out these promising approaches to find out what works."
FTAdviser recently reported (12 September) that both Aviva and L&G were planning to roll out their MOT service to market as soon as next year.
Chris Knight, CEO of L&G retail retirement, said: “At Legal and General, we believe the mid-life MOT has the potential to break down the before and after retirement barrier.
"It’s a great way to kick start retirement conversations, giving people the opportunity to take stock of their finances, career plans and health in good time.
"We’ve already trialed an MOT with our own employees, but to have a real, positive impact on society, this needs to be an everyday feature for people in their 40s and 50s.
"Today’s report sets out how we can start that journey and take a significant step in helping more people enjoy a happy, healthy retirement."
TPAS has said that the report has encouraged the organisation to execute a full roll out of its service to people who are self-employed.
Michelle Cracknell, chief executive of TPAS, said: "We have been strong supporters in the need for the mid-life MOT as an intervention to encourage people to think about their future and the retirement income they may need. Our pilot focused on the self-employed. It is a very diverse group but all with different needs, and possibly attitudes, to the employed.
"We designed the review to be relevant to the issues that occupy their thinking; work, health, family and money. The positive results have encouraged us to seek to roll out the service to help more self-employed people."
Alan Chan, financial planner and director at IFS Wealth and Pensions said: "A mid-life MOT is a great initiative. People often leave financial planning until the last minute and want IFAs to help put out the fires as opposed to preventing the fire in the first place.
"As we all know, prevention is far better than a cure. A mid-life MOT will help to identify key areas of planning, signpost where and when they should be seeking expert advice and any pitfalls they need to avoid and address, such as funding their pension or protecting their growing family. In my opinion, it would probably be best served by some form of robo-advice or guidance."
rosie.quigley@ft.com
