The government has announced that the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) will be providing face-to-face pension guidance from April next year, when the reforms come into effect, while telephone guidance will be available from the Pensions Advisory Service.

Chancellor George Osborne said: ‘These organisations have years of experience dealing with a variety of consumer issues and are well placed to be accessible to everyone who reaches pension age and feels they would benefit from the guidance.’

The choice of the two organisations follows the Freedom and Choice in Pensions consultation, which looked at ways for the government to implement the ‘guidance guarantee’ included in its initial pension reform announcements, which will see around 320,000 individuals retiring each year with DC pension savings able to access them as they wish, subject to their marginal rate of tax.

The Treasury will hold overall responsibility for the service design and implementation until the guidance service reaches maturity. This is being led by a Treasury team, bringing together expertise from across government, the Pensions Advisory Service and the government’s Money Advice Service, to develop an online service to provide guidance in this area.

The Treasury has announced that the government will legislate next week to underpin the guidance, including an amendment which will make imitation of the guidance service a criminal offence.

Pension expert Ros Altmann said: ‘It is clear that, currently, most people saving for a pension don’t understand all the vital issues, and it’s really important that they receive impartial help to make the best decisions for themselves. Both the Pensions Advisory Service and CAB have longstanding experience in helping the public with financial issues; and it is really important that people do trust the scheme, otherwise they remain at risk of stumbling into poor decisions.’