Who Aren't We Seeing?

Author: Lee Cook

Pension schemes have long relied on service levels, turnaround times, and workflow volumes to assess administrative performance. These measures show whether core processes are working, but not how members experience them.

A retirement quotation may be delivered on time, while leaving the member unsure what it means or what to do next. A website can meet internal targets even when members abandon a difficult journey, and call statistics say nothing about those who never make contact because they don't know where to turn.

When member experience data is viewed alongside traditional management information, a different picture emerges. Often, the most revealing insights concern not the members who engage regularly, but those who don't.

That raises an important question for trustees and scheme managers: if a member is struggling but never tells you, how would you know?

The gap between identified need and actual need

Analysis over the past year has sharpened the focus on members who may require additional support.

Many organisations respond effectively once a need is known, offering specialist help, adjustments and alternative communication formats. What is less clear is how many needs remain unidentified.

Across the schemes administered by Gallagher, approximately 500,000 members are currently supported. Of those, only 583 members have an active Supported Person record. That represents around 0.12% of the overall membership population.

Viewed in isolation, that figure may not seem remarkable. When compared with broader population data, however, it becomes harder to ignore.

The FCA's Financial Lives Survey found that 49% of UK adults display one or more characteristics of vulnerability. Disability affects around 45% of people over State Pension Age and 64% of those aged 85 and over. The Royal National Institute of Blind People estimates that over two million people live with sight loss affecting daily life, yet only around 320,000 are registered as sight impaired or severely sight impaired. Over 1% of the UK population is living with dementia, according to estimates from Dementia UK and Alzheimer's Society, and that number is expected to rise.

These figures cannot be applied directly to an individual scheme, but the contrast should prompt curiosity.

If support needs are widespread, are administration systems capturing the full picture, or do many needs remain hidden until members disclose them?

The members who never raise their hand

Most support models rest on a reasonable assumption: when members need additional help, they will tell us. And sometimes, they do.

Some members disclose sight loss, a diagnosis, bereavement or caring responsibilities, or request communications in a different format. Many don't, and by the time they ask for help, they may already have experienced significant friction.

Using our Member Experience Dashboard, Gallagher has been examining how needs remain hidden during periods of limited engagement. Deferred members, around half of the population we administer, may have little contact with their pension for years while health, confidence, family circumstances and accessibility needs change.

Many of those support needs only become visible when a significant event occurs, such as retirement, a transfer request or bereavement. By that point, schemes are often responding to a barrier rather than preventing one.

Experience measures reveal patterns of engagement, recurring difficulties and friction that completed-transaction data can miss. The aim isn't to identify vulnerable members through data, but to identify barriers.

From identifying vulnerability to removing barriers

Support needs are not static. Over a pension journey spanning four or five decades, a member's circumstances may change several times. The more useful question is therefore not, "Which members are vulnerable?" but "Where are members likely to struggle?".

When data reveals repeated friction, schemes can simplify communications, redesign journeys and make support easier to access, building accessibility in before a member encounters difficulty.

Good accessibility benefits everyone. Clear language, intuitive processes, communication choice, visible support routes, step-by-step actions and frequently asked questions can reduce the need for later adjustments. Where possible, schemes should also remember a member's needs, so they don't have to explain them at every interaction.

Pension professionals cannot be experts in every form of vulnerability. Specialist organisations can challenge assumptions, review communications and digital journeys, and help uncover barriers that may otherwise be missed.

Gallagher is applying these insights through administrator training, clearer communications and website improvements, with external support made easier to find. The next step is to examine member journeys more deeply, identify recurring pinch points and prioritise changes based on experience rather than assumptions.

Looking beyond the dashboard

As measurement matures, schemes can move beyond what happened to explore why.

Member experience data complements, rather than replaces, operational measures. Its value lies in exposing gaps: members absent from engagement reports, support records and traditional management information.

The crucial question isn't simply how many supported members have been identified, but whether enough attention is being paid to those still hidden from view, including people who may never say they're struggling.

To find out more about how member experience data can help you identify hidden support needs and remove barriers across the pension journey, connect with us today.