Savers need more help navigating 'pensions minefield', says MP

Savers are in a ‘pensions minefield’ and need help to make better decisions, MPs warn.

The Work and Pensions Committee says Government and regulators must ‘end their timidity’ to assist savers, some of whom are ending up as victims of pensions scams.

They also want automatic appointments with Pension Wise to be trialled. It offers those aged 50 and over free, impartial guidance.

The Work and Pensions Committee says Government and regulators must ‘end their timidity’ to help savers avoid making poor decisions and in some cases falling victim to pensions scams

The pension freedoms of 2015, gave people a much wider range of choices over what to do with their pot than buying an annuity.

Yet the Financial Conduct Authority told the MPs consumers judged pensions a ‘minefield’. Many struggled to understand how they work.

Committee chairman Stephen Timms, says: ‘The pension freedoms, far from living up to their name, will instead trap people in an increasingly confusing web of complexity.’

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