People want the guidance guarantee to be face-to-face with only 1 per cent supporting ‘virtual’ sessions via Skype, new research from MGM Advantage has revealed.
Research carried out by YouGov on behalf of MGM Advantage, revealed that 35 per cent of 2,367 over 55’s would prefer to access the service face-to-face, whilst 13 per cent would like to use a website, followed by a face-to-face session.
Only 4 per cent wanted to use the service via phone and new technologies such as Skype only appealed to 1 per cent.
However, the majority of the respondents to the government’s pension consultation believed the ‘guidance guarantee’ could be delivered ‘virtually’. The Pensions Advisory Service has proposed “virtual face-to-face” sessions as the main thrust of a service it believes it could easily scale up to meet demand.
According to MGM, 52 per cent of respondents wanted advice or a detailed understanding on all their options from using the service, while 44 per cent said giving them the basic facts to prepare them to make up their own mind was what they would expect.
Around 4 per cent said they wanted a basic understanding of their options at-retirement, whilst 41 per cent said they felt using the service should make them prepared to make the right decisions of their own personal situation.
In terms of accessing the system, the majority of people - 82 per cent said they thought it was important they can use the service as many times as they want as they move through retirement, whilst only 6 per cent felt it was not important.
Axa Life Invest previously said that people do not want general guidance on retirement products but individual face-to-face guidance over multiple sessions as they lack a basic understanding of retirement products
Andrew Tully, Pensions technical director, MGM Advantage, said: “People want to feel equipped with a high degree of knowledge, with many instinctively preferring face-to-face contact and advice. This is a tall order given the resources available and the timeframe for implementation.
“We need to think creatively about how and when people can access the service, promoting it as a national branded service and ensuring it is available when people need it.
“It is clear from our research that the hand-off to professional financial advice needs to be clear and signposted early on in the process to manage what people are expecting from the service.
“We don’t have a huge amount of time to get this right, so a quick decision regarding the guidance operator is essential to enable them to start recruiting staff and planning so the service is up and running before April 2015.”