Watchdog: Pension Wise performance must be transparent

The Government needs to be more transparent about how Pension Wise is performing, a consumer watchdog said today. The Financial Services Consumer Panel also expressed concerns about “low numbers” using the service and “inconsistencies in standards between delivery partners”.The body has set out a raft of concerns, queries and recommendations as part of theinquiry into pension freedom guidance and advice. It has sent a summary to Work and Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field MP, which this has been published today.The panel concluded that the Government must publish information on how often and by whom Pension Wise has been used – ideally every quarter. {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}Officials said this should include the number of sessions completed - both face-to-face and via telephone - as well as the mean and median pension pots of those who accessed the service.The report stated: “The Pension Wise guidance service is essential to help people navigate the new pension freedoms, but it is not clear at present that it will lead to better outcomes for consumers.“We remain concerned about inconsistencies in service standards between delivery partners, and the low numbers of consumers using Pension Wise. The service needs to have a stable source of funding to attract the right staff.“The Government needs to be more transparent about how Pension Wise is performing, and what would be considered good outcomes. The Panel believes it should regularly publish management information to show what proportion of eligible people is making use of the service. It also needs to conduct a thorough review to determine whether Pension Wise is leading to better outcomes for consumers.”The report also called for HM Treasury and the Department for Work & Pensions to determine the best way of building a universal retirement income calculator for use by Pension Wise.It stated: “The calculator should show at what point a pension pot might be exhausted if a given level of income was drawn down each year or what level of income the pot might be able to provide given a certain level of growth throughout the consumer’s expected lifetime. These calculations should incorporate the estimated impact of total costs and charges deduced by the asset manager.”

Watchdog: Pension Wise performance must be transparent

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