After alternatives to meeting face-to-face became more common during lockdown, could such virtual and automated services be a solution to tackling the pension advice gap?
Rob Yuille, head of long-term savings policy at the Association of British Insurers, says there is “definitely” a role for automated advice to help fill the gap.
“It can reach more people at lower cost and provide flexibility for savers to access help whether at home or in the workplace,” Yuille adds.
Meanwhile, Royal London’s director of policy and external affairs, Jamie Jenkins, says that while the pandemic has led to greater use of online services, including how people deal with advisers, many still value human interaction at some stage of the process.
“As such, we are likely to see hybrid advice models become more prominent. In practice, technology will likely be used by advisers to complete much of the data gathering and fact find, deferring then to a face-to-face meeting in person or online,” says Jenkins.
Indeed, David Stevens, retirement director at LV, points to the provider’s own research indicating that face-to-face retirement advice remains the preferred option.
But Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams says that regardless of how advice is delivered, “it’s clear that most savers are unlikely to be willing or able to pay for it”.
She adds: “Pension Wise will be crucial to boosting efforts to engage people in pensions decision making, and it’s imperative that take up is significantly increased by the creation of an automatic appointment booking system. It’s certainly possible that some people will then go on to take up an offer of paid-for advice.”
Chloe Cheung is a features writer at FTAdviser
