The pension freedoms, designed to give more options to individuals accessing their pension pots, have been in place now for around six months. One of the government’s statements was that they wished for individuals to take control of their pension. One of the tools that would empower individuals to do this was the formation of Pension Wise – a free and impartial service designed to explain the myriad of options available to those reaching the date from which pensions can be drawn.

The service is available to those over the age of 50 and who have defined contribution or money purchase pension schemes. While its introduction is a step forward and will be useful to many, is the service too narrowly capable and too late in its availability being potentially only 5 years from the date when benefits could come into payment?

The service is also unable to provide advice. Its “guidance specialists” are able to offer purely guidance only, meaning that many individuals may become frustrated when they have questions they will not be able to get a personalised and meaningful response to. It can also only help with regards to certain types of pension schemes and thus cannot comment on defined benefit pension schemes or the interaction of benefits options and sums payable on death in the wider context of the individuals other assets such as property, ISAs and other investments.

What would be far more beneficial is an interactive session with a specialist who is not constrained by the requirement to provide factual information only. Someone who can look outside of the pension wrapper and provide some more rounded information.

Fortunately, these people do exist: independent financial advisers. Historically though, many individuals have a long held mistrust of financial advisers which is a cross borne by current advisers deriving from the actions of their predecessors. The days of the policy salesman are however long gone. Advisers are now almost exclusively remunerated by fees and the current crop are able to operate only having been authorised by the industry’s regulator. In order to achieve this, an adviser must be qualified through a lengthy process of examinations and must also adhere to strict codes of conduct.

Some individuals may still be reluctant to engage with an adviser. Some simply do not wish to disclose details of their financial affairs and for others, burying their head in the sand is deemed more palatable than learning the realities of their financial position. Others may not wish to pay for the advice which in most cases could be worth significantly more than the cost of the fee.

So I propose a means of sampling the adviser experience without the immediate and direct cost to an individual. This could be provided using a voucher system, funded by a simple one off deduction from an individual’s money purchase pension plan in the sum of say £150. The value of the voucher would be non taxable and could be used by the individual to access a meeting with a qualified adviser and could be used from age 45.

Such a meeting would give the individual a taste of what an adviser can do for them. The tax features, for example, of an individual’s different savings and investment vehicles could be explained along with a professional explanation of risk. It may lead to the adviser’s engagement with them on a wider remit. If nothing else, it would help to educate the individual on matters relating to their wider financial affairs and suggest action that would be beneficial whilst there is still plenty of time for it to take effect.

Martin Tilley is director of technical services at Dentons Pension Management