This has intensified following the news that Royal Bank of Scotland will be replacing 220 face-to-face advisers with an online system.

Everyone deserves access to good advice, but the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposal to develop a “mass-market automated system” does not represent a full solution to the UK’s so-called advice gap.

The FCA’s argument that the demand for advice outweighs the supply of advisers runs contrary to many advisers’ experience. In a survey of 200 advisers, VouchedFor found they could handle on average an extra 2.5 new client enquiries per month. Moreover, 35% of these advisers were willing to help clients of any wealth level.

There is clearly more to be done to stimulate consumer demand for advice, in part due to residual trust issues. Human advisers – not machines – have the best chance of rebuilding this trust.

Affordability is a consideration here – automation can lower the cost of advice and take the hassle out of accessing it. These are welcome benefits, though are not enough to make technology a replacement for more personalised, human interaction. Every consumer is different and faces unique financial and life challenges. Relying too heavily on technology runs the risk of giving more people access to generic, less valuable (or worse, misleading) information.

Further technological disruption in the financial advice market is inevitable and is positive, however technology alone is not a silver bullet. Providing advice in conjunction to rather than in isolation from technology is a more viable solution to the advice gap that we are currently facing. Rather than focussing solely on robo-advice, it would be better to build a network of “Bionic advisers”: real human advisers delivering services made more affordable and easier by technology. This needs to be powered by all those working in financial services working together to stimulate consumer demand by making the value of advice clearer and rebuilding trust.

VouchedFor have made some strides in this space, for example through the free financial plans that we are offering through our Get Financially Fit campaign – online plans, personalised by human advisers – though more needs to be done.

Advisers delivered by drone may not be the answer (yet, anyway!), but rather than focussing on the “robo” or “human” divide, closing the advice gap relies on marrying up the unique benefits of each to give all UK consumers access to the very best advice for them.

Alex Whitson is chief marketing officer of VouchedFor.co.uk