In preparation for the changes to pension regulations in April 2015 the Money Advice Service (MAS) is launching an on-line ‘Retirement Adviser Directory’ on which financial advisory firms can register to be listed.

The directory will contain contact details and information on regulated financial advisers who specialise in retirement planning. It will provide consumers with a streamlined, simple mechanism to search for and choose a regulated financial adviser who can provide the advice they need.

All regulated financial adviser firms that offer a full advice service and specialise in retirement advice are eligible to be listed. Advisers will not have to pay to be entered in the directory. 

Name, address and contact details are included, as well as the type of service provided by the firm/adviser i.e. face-to-face, telephone or web (Skype) service. In addition, the qualifications and specialisms held by advisers are included in the information provided, as well as information on fees and charges to give consumers a clear idea of the cost of any given service. 

Consumers will be able to search by post code, and/or type of service offered i.e. telephone, face-to-face or Skype. They will also be able to search by the type of advice they require, i.e. pre-retirement planning or perhaps long term care funding or equity release.

The criteria for entry includes:

• all customers are to be provided with advice, irrespective of the size of the pension pot i.e. there will be no ‘wealth limit’;

• comparison between firms will be facilitated through the provision of information in a standard format (including fees and charges); and

• all advisers listed in the directory will have an appropriate specialism in retirement planning. 

A press release from MAS can be found here.

On-line registration can be accessed here.