Has PensionWise changed?

gordonn

I try to go to "pensionwise.gov.uk" as advised every where I look but I get redirected to MoneyWise.
I do not know how to prove this is valid I have googled for confirmation but can not find any announcements?

MX5huggy

Pension Wise is a sub area of Money Helper now. 

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise/?source=pw#

fatbelly

All part of the grand plans of the Money and Pensions Service

gordonn

Thanks for you replies helpful.  From what I've read you need to ask specific questions if you use this service no general advise given.

calcotti

gordonn said:

Thanks for you replies helpful.  From what I've read you need to ask specific questions if you use this service no general advise given.

Don’t think that is correct.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise

An appointment with Pension Wise is free and will help you understand what your overall financial situation will be when you retire.

It’ll talk you through your options to help you make the right decision. You’ll also find out about the other factors you need to consider when deciding on your options before retirement.

dunstonh

gordonn said:

Thanks for you replies helpful.  From what I've read you need to ask specific questions if you use this service no general advise given.

No advice of any sort is given.  You don't need to ask specific questions. They will just go through some of the options available.  I say some because they are limited to looking at generics concerning pensions.  Not what else is commercially available or other wrappers etc.

In my experience, nearly everyone who has had a pensionwise appointment and thought they were going to it one way has ended up doing it differently after seeking regulated advice.

gm0

Pensionwise gets repeatedly knocked about here for what it isn't.  Tailored to situation specific advice. 

It's not meant or designed to be that.  Quite deliberately.  It just explains the pension freedom options - also to be found in pension scheme wake up packs. These are hard to understand due to complexity, additional subtle rules and the regulated stilted use of language in the packs.  Pensionwise explains for 1hr.  It does not recommend.  It does not choose for you.  It signposts the paid advice option. 

People may well choose an adequate vs a "best" option themseleves afterwards due to incomplete knowledge of tax law or go further astray.  And yet.

It is free and available and useful to anyone learning about their options. 

Particularly to people who fall into the "advice gap" i.e. don't have pensions and assets of a size to attract the attention of an adviser at anything resembling a sensible price

This was the design brief for Pensionwise.  Without crowding out the market for advice and making the situation across all consumers worse in that way.

People with more assets and more complex affairs are likely better served elsewhere.  Fair enough.  So what.  What about the others.

Rebranding is odd given concerns about lack of uptake in the recent FCA consultation on conduct of business for providers - to push more use of the guidance and get the usage stats of Pensionwise up.  Classic civil service error to confuse metrics about means and ends. Focus on the proxy variable (calls scheduled) not actually iterating on feedback and satisfaction with the underlying thing itself.

Rebranding to something vaguer and generic post a merger of financial education initiatives after years trying to get this name out there into the public consciousness is just comical   The MAPS and Moneyhelper stuff might as well be YouGov or HMRC.  Or Wombles or BagofDull.com.  Nobody cares what the overarching container of disjointed different stuff is called when they google for the specific thing. Consumer has a here and now need / a current decision.

fatbelly

MAPS is the rebranded MAS (Money Advice Service) that wasted tens of millions on brand-building TV ads (Ask Ma) and was roundly condemned by all. Eventually George Osborne announced it was unfit for purpose and would be scrapped.

They put a P in it and combined it with The Pensions Service,

gm0

Makes sense. When you don't want a now unloved standalone organisation but don't want any flack for actively stopping what it does not very efficiently you have to dump it somewhere.

Remove leadership cost.  Fold the function into an obscure corner elsewhere in the civil service - somewhere far from london (which helps with tupe as people quit in droves to join a different quango setup for a new initiative du jour).
Leave it to wither away.  Starve of investment. Ignore. 

Sir Humphrey Appleby would barely notice the memo crossing his desk.