Article by Phil
The new Pension Wise appointment system came into force on 1st June. But some pension providers are not sure about whether the scheme will work.
Pension providers are now required to offer all pension holders the opportunity to have a free 45 telephone appointment with the government run Pension Wise service to discuss their pension options. Of course, pension advisors at Pension Wise do not provide an advice service. It is only an information service and is not run by qualified staff. But it does provide information to people who have never had the opportunity to discuss their pension or finances with anyone before. Unfortunately, the mandatory nature of the service means that even those people who are paying to use Independent Financial Advisers still have to use the service. That can be very confusing.
Pension providers are also concerned about the timing of the appointment offer. Which doesn’t have to be offered until there is a request to access the pension pot. By this time, Providers argue that retirees have already decided that they want to access their money. Which means they are far less likely to consider the information options being provided by pension advisors at Pension Wise.
This seems to be borne out by the facts.
Up to the end of May 2022 only 1 in 33 people referred to the service actually took up the offer. That’s only 3%. Of those accessing their pensions for the first time, 14% took up the Pension Wise offer.
Having said that its already very difficult to secure an appointment in any event. So the service probably couldn’t cope with may more requests anyway.
According to the figures almost 20% of those accessing their pensions took separate Independent advice.
