Wealth at Work has launched a telephone-based guidance service to offer support to employees and pension scheme members as they make decisions about their pension.
The firm, which provides financial advice, guidance and education in the workplace, developed the service after seeing the demand employers were facing to support their workers with the decision they face at retirement.
Jonathan Watts-Lay, director of Wealth at Work, said: "Freedom and choice in pensions changed the retirement landscape considerably. Whilst offering a great deal of flexibility and opportunity, the pension changes also carry many pitfalls and risks.
"Employers and trustees are coming under increasing pressure to support their employees and members in getting good outcomes from their pension savings.
"But without the right help and guidance many could be at significant risk of making costly mistakes such as paying too much tax, or falling prey to devious scams.
"Financial guidance offers the support employees and members need to help them clarify elements of their financial situation and to gain a deeper level of knowledge around their options."
Mr Watts-Lay added that guidance can act as a "gateway" to advice because it can make someone realise how complex the decisions they have to make are.
The helpline is available to those who are approaching retirement and uses a structured set of questions and prompts to discuss scheme specific options and the relationship to other lifetime savings.
This will allow Wealth at Work's guidance team to outline the options available, including highlighting risks and signposting to Pension Wise and access to financial advice when required.
Following the call, employees and members will receive a written report of their options, including a pre-retirement checklist of things to consider.
Employers or schemes will receive a confirmation to record that a guidance session has occurred, meeting The Pension Regulator’s requirements surrounding providing risk warnings.
One of the companies which has already rolled this service out is Volvo Group UK, a manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction equipment.
Nick Wheeler, chairman of the trustees of Volvo Group UK Retirement Plan, said: "The trustees were looking for a service which could best prepare our members to maximise their retirement income with all the flexibilities now available to them under the pension freedoms.
"We explored a number of options and the telephone guidance service offered by Wealth at Work ticked all our boxes. The service is tailored to our members, objectively focused and competitively priced."
The launch of Wealth at Work's guidance service comes after last year the Money Advice Service (Mas) allocated £500,000 towards the cost of transitioning to the government's new single guidance body.
Mas, together with The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise, will transition to a new single body, funded through existing levies on pension schemes and the financial services industry, in the autumn.
damian.fantato@ft.com
