“It’s good to see the Committee recommending the Government moves quickly to improve Pension Wise”, Which? response to the DWP Select Committee report on pensions

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd said:

“Access to advice is fundamental to the success of the new pension freedoms, so it’s good to see the Committee recommending the Government moves quickly to improve Pension Wise so it provides the easily accessible, impartial and personalised guidance people need. Consumers should also have the full picture on their savings, so we welcome the Committee recognising the importance of a pensions dashboard.

“The Committee is also right to flag costly and complex charges as an issue, and the Government must focus on this as it works with regulators and industry to ensure everyone can make the most of the new freedoms.”

Background: 

  1. Our ‘Better Pensions’ campaign is calling on the Government, pension providers and regulators to protect people when they take money out of their pension by:
  • Establishing a Government-backed provider to ensure everyone can access a good value, low cost product;
  • Introducing a charge cap for default drawdown products; and
  • Safeguarding savings in schemes that go bust.
  1. Previous Which? research calculated that someone with the typical pension pot of £36,000, drawing down £2,000 a year, would be around £10,300 better off if there was a cap of 0.5% than with charges at 2.75%. A 0.75% cap would mean that they have a total of around £8,800 more over their retirement and a 1% cap would give them around £7,500 more.

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