FREE advice about the UK Government's pension reforms will be offered at Citizens Advice centres throughout Scotland, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.
Rule changes that have been hailed as a "pensions revolution" were announced by Mr Osborne at the Budget in March, offering hundreds of thousands of people every year the chance to access their savings as they wish.
It was announced yesterday that Citizens Advice Scotland will offer face-to-face guidance to those affected, while the Pensions Advisory Service will offer a telephone service. The UK Government promised earlier this year that it would arrange a free advice service from April next year, when the reforms come into force.
Margaret Lynch, chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland, said her organisation welcomed the opportunity to work with the UK Government to design a pension guidance service which would be delivered at its network of independent Citizen Advice Bureaux.
"We would aim to ensure that members of the public who require it receive independent, impartial guidance on pensions as on many other issues," she said.
The Government will legislate next week to underpin the guidance, including an amendment which will make imitation of the new service a criminal offence.
Dr Ros Altmann, an academic and pensions and investment expert, said it was clear that most people affected by the changes did not yet understand the impact they could have on them.
"It's really important that they receive impartial help to make the best decisions for themselves," she said. "Both the Pensions Advisory Service and Citizens Advice have longstanding experience in helping the public with financial issues and it is really important that people do trust the scheme, otherwise they remain at risk of stumbling into poor decisions."
From April, around 320,000 individuals retiring each year with defined contribution pension savings will have far more flexibility over how they access their cash.
Mr Osborne, who announced the service at a Citizens Advice Bureau in London yesterday, said: "Giving people the freedom to manage their own pension is the backbone of this government's radical pension reforms and key to our long term economic plan.
"That's why I'm delighted that respected and impartial consumer advice organisations - Citizens Advice and The Pensions Advisory Service - will be offering free face to face and telephone guidance to people across the country from April, as promised in the Budget. These organisations have years of experience dealing with a variety of consumer issues and are well placed to be accessible to everyone who reaches pension age and feels they would benefit from the guidance."
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