At last, two weeks before the starting-gun fires, the government has opened its advice service for anyone who has a pension pot and may see 'cash' written on it.

From April 6 anyone over 55 with a non final salary pension will be entitled to liquidate it, using only the free Pension Wise guidance service. Giving up final salary entitlements can only be done after fully-qualified advice and, for most people, is a bad idea.

Pension Wise last week unveiled its phone number (030 0330 1001) for booking appointments by phone with the Pensions Advisory Service, or in person at a Citizens Advice office, alongside an online service (www.pensionwise.gov.uk).

Tom McPhail, Hargreaves Lansdown's pensions guru, said opening on time had been "a close-run thing", adding: "We know that most investors want to make their own decisions without paying for an adviser, at the same time they're likely to want more help than Pension Wise can offer. As a consequence, the pensions industry has also been gearing up for a big surge in demand."

Pension Wise will offer information on planning how to draw an income, and risks such as tax, fraud, running out of money, forgetting dependants, and failing to shop around. It won't cover the details of products and whether they are suitable, how to split the pension into some fixed income (via an annuity) and some drawdown, how to search the market and actually buy a retirement income product, guidance on investment and managing your money, or anything on final salary pensions.

Providers such as Standard Life and Aegon offer web-based guidance tools, while brokers and advisers are busy exploring the limits of online guidance without offering client-specific advice which has to be regulated (and paid for).

Aviva last week abandoned plans to set up a 30-strong guidance team, for fear of breaching the rules.

McPhail says: "Many pension providers have not yet been able to develop all the services and retirement income products which investors are likely to want. Some can do ad-hoc payments but not drawdown; others still only offer an annuity purchase. It is only by dealing with regulated businesses such as retirement brokers and financial advisers that investors will be able to actually find the solutions which meet their needs."

For the past year the cash-in option has been available to anyone with (up to three) small pension pots of up to £30,000 in total. It emerged this week that one of the biggest historic providers Equitable Life has seen 95per cent of retirees with small pots take them in cash - up from 45per cent before the upper limit for each pot was raised from £2,000 by the chancellor a year ago.

Chris Wiscarson, chief executive of Equitable Life said: "For policyholders with funds under £10,000 buying an annuity, we can see that the policyholder understands their options and have valid reasons not to take their savings as cash. For example, they have pension pots from other providers and wish to consolidate to provide a guaranteed income."

The Financial Conduct Authority thinks it necessary to be running a big ScamSmart campaign, warning that April 6 onwards will be "the very moment that unscrupulous fraudsters will offer investments with high returns". It says reject all cold calls, check the FCA Warning List of known scammers, and get impartial advice.

Over half of the UK's employers are not confident Pensions Wise will provide their employees with adequate support, according to a report last week from Glasgow-based advisers Hymans Robertson.

It has already found 57% of people intending to 'doing it themselves', with only 22% willing to pay for external advice. The average amount they were prepared to pay was an amazing £37. Now employers say their workforce is just as likely to look to their company (63%) as to the government (62%) for retirement guidance or advice

Rona Train, partner at Hymans Robertson, said it was "uncharted territory" and surprising that even half of employers felt confident. "There appears to be a perception that people will be able to treat pension schemes like bank accounts from April - drawing money as and when they please. The picture is far more complicated than many realise, particularly from a tax point of view."

Any pension withdrawal is 25per cent tax-free but the rest counts towards income in that tax year.

Ewen Fleming, financial services leader at Grant Thornton in Scotland, said:

"The additional sources of 'advice' available are, as yet, unproven. The headlines on pension freedoms don't necessarily help customers understand the tax impacts of the various options available; financial advice is required, yet many customers can't afford it or don't realise its importance to the decisions they are taking."

Scottish Friendly has called for the issue of formal 'think again' warnings to be issued to customers.