Marvin OnumonuOne in five (19%) people do not know how much is going into their pension, according to research conducted by Opinium for Hargreaves Lansdown.
A third (33%) of those over 55 reported not knowing their contributions, compared to just 10% of people between 18 and 34.
15% of respondents believed their monthly pension contributions were between £201 and £300, while 3% thought it exceeded £2,000.
Among basic rate taxpayers, 18% did not know their contributions, compared to only 7% of higher-rate taxpayers.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Planning for retirement is one of the most important things you can do and yet one in five people have no idea how much they are contributing to their pension.
“It actually gets worse the older we get with one-third of people aged over 55 having no clue about what they and their employer are putting in.
“If you don’t know what’s going in then you won’t know what you are going to get out of your pension and so we risk people sleepwalking into retirement with nowhere near enough to meet their needs.”
Morrissey added: “The employer contribution can also be significant. Under auto-enrolment employers have to pay a minimum of 3% into employee pensions. Some will pay more.
“Over time this can make a significant impact on what you end up with.
“Some will even pay in more if you hike your own contribution – the so-called employer match and this can have a huge effect on your retirement if you are able to afford the extra contributions.
“It’s also well worth checking to see if your employer offers a salary sacrifice arrangement on their pension.
“This is where you sacrifice a portion of your salary in exchange for benefits such as pension contributions.
“As your salary is lower, then so will your income tax and National Insurance contributions, so you are able to maintain pension contributions with higher take home pay.
“The employer also saves on their National Insurance contribution – this is something employers may increasingly look at as the rate they pay was hiked in the recent Budget and will hit 15% in April.”
