Almost three-quarters of employers are not willing to spend money to help their employees get financial advice, an advice firm has alleged.
Research conducted by Chase de Vere showed of 300 businesses surveyed, a mere 33 per cent said they would consider paying for financial advice for their employees.
This was despite 83 per cent saying financial advice was something their employees would benefit from.
When Chase de Vere conducted a similar survey last year, 42 per cent of employers said they would consider paying the advice fees for their employees.
The research also found a mere 27 per cent of employers were expecting to include a cost for financial advice for their employees in their next budgets. This was down from last year's 36 per cent.
Of the employers surveyed, 56 per cent said they planned to do more to help their employees make more informed financial choices, however.
Sean McSweeney, corporate advice manager at Chase de Vere, said: "The overwhelming majority of employers are aware that their employees would benefit from financial advice. This is a very good starting point and it is positive that more than half of employers are planning to do more to help their employees to make informed decisions.
"However, while their intentions may be good, relatively few employers are willing to spend money to help facilitate the provision of financial advice, even though they understand that their employees would benefit from it. This is disappointing because employers are well placed to help their employees."
He added: "It could also be a false economy for employers. Those employers who don’t help may, over time, be faced with an ageing workforce that cannot afford to retire and as a result suffer from lower productivity, succession planning issues and losing younger talent to competitors that provide more opportunity for advancement."
Rob Morgan, pension and investment analyst at Charles Stanley, said employees had the responsibility to arrange their own financial advice outside of firm-related benefits.
"Financial advice can be a very broad subject, but I do think employers bear responsibility in making sure employees are fully harnessing the company benefits made available to them – most notably the firm’s pension scheme," Mr Morgan said.
"No doubt some firms could be doing more in this area in terms of education and understanding. Starting a first pension or the approach to retirement are key moments where this would be most beneficial because important decisions that could shape the individual’s financial future have to be made.
"However, we can’t expect employers to completely fill the financial advice gap. Outside of firm-related benefits the onus is very much on the individual to arrange any tailored financial advice as they see fit."
rosie.quigley@ft.com
