It agreed more needs to be done to increase the take-up of free and impartial guidance, despite having removed an amendment from the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill in January that would have auto-enrolled people into guidance when they accessed their retirement funds.
“This removal was necessary as the amendment [demanding] default guidance for those who have decided to access their tax free cash needs a re-think,” Goodland said.
“If a person has already made a decision then any guidance at that point is too late,” she said.
The DWP said it planned to investigate “innovative ways” to boost take-up. This includes Pension Wise, where the government is considering further enhancements to the platform in the coming year.
Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: “By engaging with providers to test innovative ways to boost take-up – including potentially automatic guidance – we can ensure engagement and understanding of retirement saving is improved without creating unnecessary unintended consequences.
“This testing should cover a range of different nudges at different points in the retirement savings journey,” he said.
