Webb: Compulsory pensions advice would be 'real challenge'

Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Webb was asked whether it might be better for government to broaden the Budget's promise of free pensions guidance to a form of full paid-for advice. It was suggested that providers should not be permitted to sell direct, and that most retirees would be better off subject to a proper fact find than receiving straightforward information under Chancellor George Osborne's ‘guidance guarantee'. But under that system there would be "considerable dead weight", Webb said, as many people do not need or would not be able to pay for full advice. "Forced...