According to the latest figures which show how Pension Wise, a service which helps people understand the options available for their retirement savings pot, performed in December, the average cost of each appointment has risen 4% to £516.

The number of appointments made in December fell to 3,205, down from a high of 6,755 in October, while telephone appointments fell to just a third of the demand from when it first launched in April 2015.

A total of 383,571 investors accessed their pensions in the first six months of the pension freedoms but just 28,320 had a Pension Wise appointment during the same period.

Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, said while December isn’t a typical month for pension planning, demand for the service is still relatively low and has been falling over the past couple of months.

He adds that policymakers need to improve the take-up or ensure suitable alternative solutions are in place: “The availability of impartial guidance is an important element of the pension freedoms, Pension Wise provides an excellent service and most people who do use it have a very positive experience, however overall usage numbers are still pretty low.

“The latest data from HMRC and the FCA suggest that the initial bow-wave of pension freedom demand may now be receding, so perhaps in the next few months we’ll get a clearer sense of what ongoing investor activity may look like. Many of the initial transactions have been relatively small pots getting cashed out as a lump sum, which is not necessarily a bad thing.”

The Treasury estimates the funding cost of Pension Wise will be £35m for the 2015/16 tax year.