How can we get people to shop around at retirement?

According to the Association of British Insurers (Q3 2009) over 80% of annuities were bought with funds of less than £30,000. However, the vast majority of those people are not shopping around for the best annuity rate at retirement. The difference between the best and worst annuity rates can be up to 30%, particularly for people with health conditions. Partnership estimates that 70% of pension funds of £40,000 or less failed to take advantage of the open market option last year*. This means that last year out of the 270,000 people who purchased annuities with funds under £40,000, just 81...