CP14/11: Retirement reforms and the Guidance Guarantee

Our consultation paper should be read alongside the Government response to their consultation, Freedom and Choice in Pensions, giving more detail on the Guidance Service that will help people make retirement income decisions.

Retirement reforms and the Guidance Guarantee

The options that consumers have at retirement will change from 6 April 2015. This will change the way firms and consumers interact in this market. The Government has today published a response to their consultation, Freedom and Choice in Pensions, giving more detail on the Guidance Service that will help people make retirement income decisions. Our consultation paper should be read alongside the Government response.

Why are we consulting on this?

The Government response sets out a formal role for the FCA in setting the standards for the delivery partners, maintaining the standards, monitoring compliance with those standards and collecting the levy, which will fund the provision of the guidance.

We are proposing a suite of principles-based standards, which the delivery partners delivering the Guidance Guarantee will need to comply with.

We are also consulting on changes to our Handbook to take account of the reforms to the retirement landscape.

Who does this consultation affect?

This consultation will be of interest to all those with an interest in the pensions and retirement space, including:

providers of pensions and retirement income products

trustees of DC schemes (and schemes with a DC element)

employer sponsors of DC schemes (and schemes with a DC element)

providers of other financial services products that play a role in consumers’ retirement planning

those providing advice and information in this area already

distributors of financial products, in particular retirement income products

trade bodies representing financial services firms

consumer representative bodies

charities and other organisations with a particular interest in retirement and/or financial services more generally

individual consumers

Our proposals will affect all consumers who have DC pension funds, and those who will have these pensions in the future. The proposals in this paper play a key role in determining the way in which consumers will interact with the pensions and retirement markets in future.

Consultation paper 14/11

Next steps

Send us your comments by 22 September 2014 by using the online response form or the address on page 2 the consultation paper.

We will consider your feedback and publish the standards and rules in a policy statement by late autumn.

The draft levy rules will be set out in our annual fees policy consultation paper in October.

Want to find out more?

For more information, see:

Freedom and choices in pensions, the Treasury March 2014

Freedom and choice in pensions: government response to the consultation

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