Date and time: Thursday 27 April 2023
Registration now closed.
Our second Emergency savings summit showcased the evidence we’ve gathered across our research programme so far and shined a light on the remaining challenges.
We explored:
- How can we take a joined-up approach to supporting saving in challenging times? What role could workplace saving play in supporting worker financial security? And how can short-term saving approaches be supportive of long-term and retirement savings goals?
- How can more people be supported to get started on the savings journey, including those who have not saved before and those who work for smaller employers?
- Where are the opportunities to scale coverage of and participation in workplace savings? What barriers to implementing workplace emergency savings programme exist for employers, and for providers? How could these be surmounted?
Replay the live stream:
Since 2019, Nest Insight has been exploring the role of workplace savings in supporting short- and long-term financial resilience through a series of real-world trials delivered in collaboration with employers and providers. The starting point for this research programme was the worryingly low levels of short-term financial resilience in the UK. Since then, the context for saving has changed for almost everyone. The financial impact of the global pandemic is still being felt, and the rising cost of living is now a further challenge facing households.
We know that supporting people to get started with saving will only be a small part of any solution, and that saving is not possible for everyone all of the time. However, our research shows that people want to save and that workplace savings tools can support a number of strategies households use for managing rising costs. These interventions have the potential to boost the financial wellbeing of millions of UK workers.
During the event we shared new research findings and launched the final report from our ‘sidecar savings’ trial – the culmination of three years of data gathering and multiple employers’ and collaborators’ efforts.
1 – 1:30pm | Welcome address
What have we learned about the kinds of tools and services people need to support their financial resilience? What have we heard from workplace savers and potential savers about their needs? And what are the implications for industry and policymakers? In this presentation, Jo Phillips will share the latest findings from Nest Insight’s workplace savings programme, including the final results of the sidecar savings trial.
Speakers
- Gavin Lewis, BlackRock UK
- Jo Phillips, Nest Insight
1:30 – 2:40pm | Panel session
In this challenging economic context, what tensions do low-to-moderate income households face? How are people managing their money and what impact does the current context have on priorities and decision-making? What role can the workplace play in supporting employee financial security? And how can short-term saving approaches be supportive of other financial goals, such as saving for retirement? This panel will explore the current context to saving behaviours, and how debt, emergency saving and retirement saving interact. We will also consider how we can best design solutions to support those who are financially constrained, unconfident and excluded.
Speakers
- Moderator: Sarah Porretta, the Money and Pensions Service
- Helen Dean CBE, Nest
- Sarah Holmes Berk, Harvard University and NBER (USA)
- Peter Tutton, StepChange Debt Charity
3 – 3:30pm | Keynote speech
Citizens Advice plays a vital role in building understanding of the cost-of-living challenges and helping UK households find their way. In this session, Dame Clare Moriarty DCB will share her view of the financial challenges those households are facing, the importance of building financial resilience despite the difficult economic backdrop and share possible barriers and interventions that could help households make progress towards financial security.
Speakers
- Moderator: Gemma Gooch, BlackRock Social Impact
- Dame Clare Moriarty DCB, Citizens Advice
3:30 – 4:40pm | Panel session
How can more people be supported to get started on the savings journey, including those who have not saved before and those who work for smaller employers? Where are the opportunities to scale coverage of and participation in workplace savings? What barriers to implementing these programmes exist for employers, and for providers? And how could these be surmounted? This panel will discuss why more employers don’t offer workplace savings programmes, and why more employees don’t sign up, as well as ways in which these barriers could be overcome. We will also explore opportunities for policy and market innovation within the current workplace ecosystem.
Speakers
- Moderator: Will Sandbrook, Nest Insight
- Mariel Beasley, Common Cents Lab (USA)
- Pete Glancy, Scottish Widows
- Roger Shelton, TransaveUK
- Emily Trant, Wagestream
4:40 – 4:45pm | Thank you and close
Speakers
Ann Doherty, J.P. Morgan