The pensions industry is changing – what to expect in 2026

Royal London Director of Policy and Technical Jamie Jenkins reflects on 2025 and explores the patterns that could define 2026.  

For financial services, 2025 will be seen as the genesis for a range of strategic changes ahead.   

For retirement saving, you might consider 1988 as the pivotal year that personal pensions emerged, 2001 for stakeholder pensions, 2012 for automatic enrolment and 2015 for Pension Freedoms.  

2025 marks the emergence of a strategy for the next five years through the Pension Schemes Bill, which sets out a roadmap for seismic changes around consolidation, investment and value for money. And the formation of a second Pensions Commission gives us the opportunity to build a more sustainable pensions system for generations to come.  

The Government’s growth agenda has given rise to landmark agreements from the pensions industry in the form of the Mansion House Accord and Sterling 20, forging a commitment to invest more in our domestic economy. 

Look forward to 2026  

The investment agenda is likely to continue, with attention switching to ISAs, and the weight of money held in cash versus that invested in markets.  

2026 will also see activity from regulators, partly to respond to the growth agenda, and to loosen unnecessary burdens on business, but also to shape the next phase in other areas of financial services.  

The launch of Targeted Support should give rise to new opportunities to help consumers with financial decisions where they don’t have the luxury of fully personalised advice, and where their needs are less complex.  

Finally, 2026 should see the full complement of pension providers connected to the Pensions Dashboard, ahead of the public launch, the culmination of a decade of planning and engineering. Hopefully, this will usher in a new era of engagement with pensions.