Responding to yesterday’s (21 July) Work and Pensions Committee’s (DWP) session, part of the pension freedoms inquiry, Alan Morahan, Managing Director, Employee Benefits Consulting at Punter Southall Aspire warns more needs to be done to support people at retirement and prevent them making irreversible mistakes with their pension pot.

Alan Morahan says, “Pension Freedoms brought about a revolution in the way that people could use their pension pot. There was a hope and expectation that the industry would use this revolution to develop new products that blended the various options available to people in a way that would provide a better, more sustainable level of income.

“Unfortunately, this has not happened and invariably people get to the point of taking retirement benefits with little or no understanding of the options available to them, and often end up making horrendous, irreversible mistakes.

“It was for precisely this reason that we developed Aspire to Retire, our engagement and education proposition. However, more needs to be done and we very much hope that the DWP Committee inquiry will be a force for good and will result in genuine retirement options innovation.”

The purpose of the WPC session was to hear feedback from the industry on pension freedoms – specifically the options available to savers when they come to accessing their pensions, which is the focus point of the third part of the committee’s inquiry into the success of freedoms[i].

Punter Southall Aspire is helping employers support their people as they near retirement with Aspire to Retire, which offers tools and resources to educate people, explore the options for withdrawing benefits and learn to avoid pension scams. Its personalised guidance helps people visualise their retirement and understand actions they need to take to boost their pension pot.

For more information visit: www.psaspire.com