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Ian Porter, proposition director of wealth management at national IFA Alexander Forbes, said increasingly clients are only able to access income drawdown from an insured Sipp contract and not from a provider's personal pension.

Providers including Standard Life, AJ Bell, Aegon UK, Hargreaves Lansdown and Scottish Widows have defended charging their clients for using a Sipp in order to access income drawdown.

During a roundtable, which will appear in July's edition of sister publication Pensions Management, Mr Porter told Alistair Hardie, head of Sipp products for Standard Life: "I think, yourselves included, know that you can only go into drawdown from an insured contract, which is something we are now going to call a Sipp, so part of the increase in Sipp business that is coming up on the FSA's radar is stuff where you are saying, frankly, we do not have a choice; unless we now transfer that money somewhere else, we are going to have to use something called a Sipp for drawdown."

"Sipps seem to me to be tagged as a me-too product. There is too much of it. If I had had my way, it would have stayed with the specialists in the market."

Billy Mackay, marketing director for AJ Bell, said clients were being transferred to Sipps because they provide access to vehicles with competitive and transparent charges.

He said: "There are many personal pension structures with investment ranges that rarely if ever evolve. The popular investment of today is not likely to be the popular investment option in five years time.

"Older personal pension structures have struggled to keep pace with the pace of change."

The FSA is asking providers to provide analysis to justify a switch into Sipp or any alternative plan, according to Scottish Widows.

It added the over-riding objective was to ensure this met the customer's needs and offered value.

Aegon UK said it has set up a deferred Sipp and clients only paid for the Sipp facilities if they used them.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research for Bristol-based IFA Hargreaves Lansdown, said it makes sense for clients going into drawdown to at least have Sipp investment options available to them.

He said: "Some personal pensions allow investors to use a drawdown facility within that contract. You have to look at client circumstances and needs on a case-by-case basis. Any transfer to a Sipp has to be justified by client needs and the charges that would be levied to meet those needs."

Mary Stewart, marketing director of Hornbuckle Mitchell, said clients can access income drawdown from personal pensions and do have to use a Sipp, but they should only use a Sipp if they need some of the extra features.

Friends Provident and Royal London said there was no need to take the Sipp option to be able to access drawdown within their pension proposition.

Legal & General said it offered drawdown from both its Sipp and personal pension.