Better help, better outcomes?

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A window of opportunity, which could drive significant improvement in the support consumers can expect when making some complex financial decisions, is firmly open.

Why is this important?

Consumers currently have limited access to support when making important decisions, such as how and when to use their pension.   

According to FCA research, only 8.6% of adults access regulated financial advice, while DWP research suggests that 29% of adults planning for retirement use a professional financial adviser. This leaves most people making retirement income decisions without financial advice.  

The choices savers with Defined Contribution pensions make when accessing their pension carry high stakes, with risks including running out of money in retirement, living more frugally than necessary, compromising eligibility for benefits, paying more tax than necessary, and receiving poor returns on investments.

Why does the consumer perspective matter?

These changes are driven by a shared ambition across industry and regulators to deliver better outcomes for consumers.  We want to help ensure the proposals are shaped by consumers, not just for them.   

To support this, we partnered with Community Research to establish a Consumer Advisory Panel. The panel provided insights into consumers' views on the high-level concepts behind Targeted Support, in the context of retirement income decision making. 

What have we found?

Consumers see strong benefits of Targeted Support:   

• Clarity and relevance. Panellists welcomed the concept as a much-needed filter. They like the idea of being directed to relevant information and options – and the weeding out of content that isn’t relevant to them. 
• Emotional reassurance. Another significant benefit is emotional: Targeted Support has the potential to reduce the overwhelm and anxiety often associated with retirement income decision making. 
• Empowerment. Consumers recognised that they would remain responsible for the decisions they make as a result of using Targeted Support. However, this is dependent on how the support is communicated. 

But there are concerns that must be addressed: 

• A lack of trust in the industry. Consumers are sceptical that providers will always act in their best interests. 
• Consistency matters. There’s concern about variability in consumer experiences of Targeted Support, especially if different providers offer conflicting or different suggestions.

What’s next?

As regulation and legislation change to enable Targeted Support, and as industry invests and prepares to deliver it, listening to the voices of consumers is essential to building solutions that are both trusted and effective.  

Their insights are clear. Get this right, and it could make a real difference to retirement decision making. Get it wrong, and we risk collectively failing to deliver better outcomes for consumers.