Pensions - Articles - Call for Pensions services to be combined


The Pensions Advice Allowance, was designed by the Treasury with the admirable aim of offering pension savers a new way of paying for advice on retirement planning. But since being made allowable in legislation from April 2017, it has failed to take off with either advisers or pension customers who continue to use the similar Adviser Charging approach designed by the FCA. For the benefit of clients and advisers Aegon believes it is now time for the Treasury and FCA to collaborate for the benefit of pension savers by bringing the best of Adviser Charging and the Pensions Advice Allowance together.

 Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon said: “The Treasury designed the Pensions Advice Allowance as a variant on Adviser Charging which the FCA introduced in 2014 as part of the Retail Distribution Review. The key difference is it can be used to fund advice on broader retirement planning whereas HMRC rules mean Adviser Charging can only be used for advice on the pension from which it is deducted. However, it falls short of Adviser Charging as the Pensions Advice Allowance is limited to a maximum of £500 and can be used no more than 3 times, restricting its availability to fund typical initial advice costs and making it impractical for ongoing advice. We believe this is why the Pension Advice Allowance has failed to take off.

 “With state pension age continuing to rise, ready access to advice on private pensions has never been more important and we believe the Treasury, FCA and HMRC should work together to combining the best of Adviser Charging and the Pension Advice Allowance. Allowing Adviser Charging to fund advice on broader retirement planning would be a major step forward for pension savers.”
  

Back to Index


Similar News to this Story

Wish list for the occupational pensions industry in 2025
As one year closes and another begins, it's an opportune moment to set our sights on the future. The UK occupational pensions industry faces nume
PSIG announces outcome of Consultation
The Pensions Scams Industry Group (PSIG), which was established in 2014 to help protect pension scheme members from scams, today announced the feedbac
Transfer values fell to a 12 month low during November
XPS Group’s Transfer Value Index reached a 12-month low, dropping to £151,000 during November 2024 before then recovering to its previous month-end po

Site Search

Exact   Any  

Latest Actuarial Jobs

Actuarial Login

Email
Password
 Jobseeker    Client
Reminder Logon

APA Sponsors

Actuarial Jobs & News Feeds

Jobs RSS News RSS

WikiActuary

Be the first to contribute to our definitive actuarial reference forum. Built by actuaries for actuaries.