The quality of independent advice promised to pensioners on how to manage their savings had better be good.

So had the new products Chancellor George Osborne hopes financial firms will offer to people taking advantage of his much-hyped "pensions revolution". For the stakes are high.

The UK Government's radical reform of the pensions industry is founded on a simple principle: that individual savers are best placed to make decisions about when and how to spend their savings.

Hence the policy announced in the last Budget that will allow people access to their pensions pot from the age of 55, so that, it is argued, they can decide for themselves how to put their assets to best use. According to the Chancellor, about 18 million people will soon be able to withdraw their pension flexibly should they wish to.

However, there are significant question marks over the strategy. Leaving aside the over-hyped risk that pensioners will squander their cash on a Lamborghini, or recklessly incur large tax bills by drawing down their pension pot too fast, the libertarian thinking behind it is flawed.

Yes, people should be able to spend ordinary savings and investment as they see fit. But pensions are counter-intuitive. The evidence suggests deploying assets to ensure a steady income in old age is a rational decision, and helps protect individuals against falling into penury due to running out of funds. It also protects society from having to support those left without the means to support themselves. However, the evidence also shows annuities are not popular.

This is partly because the market has not delivered products that are perceived as good value, with high charges and poor returns. If that is the case, there is an argument for reforming the market, and increasing competition, not undermining it.

There is a real risk Mr Osborne's policy will do just that. If pensioners do not buy annuities they are likely to invest in what they perceive to be the next safest option - the housing market. This risks a bubble, potentially catastrophic for first-time buyers. Meanwhile, only a minority will invest in annuities, and research shows those who expect to live longest are most likely to do so.

But this means the rates paid out will diminish, leaving the products on offer ever more unattractive.

The Coalition Government may realise this. It insists workers who have saved all of their lives will make wise decisions in their retirement. Yet it introduced auto-enrolment in workplace pensions precisely because it thought people might not.

Supporters say these reforms will make pensions more popular, leading to the development of new, more attractive products, and ensuring more people save for retirement.

That is only likely to work in combination with high quality, genuinely impartial advice. Yesterday's additional detail about how this will work is welcome.

But the policy remains high risk, with the price of failure likely to be met by the state, and by future generations.