Consultation on new financial guidance advice body
It was announced earlier this year as part of the Queen’s speech that the pensions guidance service, Pension Wise is to be merged with the Pension Advisory Service and Money Advice Service. The three money advice services will be merged into a single UK-wide body.
In a joint announcement, the Economic Secretary and the Minister for Pensions confirmed plans to develop a single public financial guidance body responsible for all debt advice, money and pensions guidance are to move ahead.
A new consultation was published on 19 December 2016 to seek views from interested parties on the new body. It is expected that this new body will help consumers access high quality, impartial financial guidance and debt advice that they need to make effective financial decisions and the consultation will help with its establishment. The consultation will remain open for comment until 13 February 2017.
The legislative changes necessary to create a single public financial guidance body will take some time, the new merged body is not expected to be in place until autumn 2018 at the earliest.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, said:
‘We want to help people take charge of their finances, and make the financial decisions that are right for them. This new body will ensure that help is readily available for people who need to access debt advice, information on their pensions or guidance on other money matters.’
The Money Advice Service, The Pension Advice Service and Pension Wise will continue to operate as normal until the new body is launched.