Questions remain over scrapping of 'doomed to fail' MAS

Underlying statutory framework made MAS ineffective

Carmen Reichman
clock • 5 min read

The government has admitted the Money Advice Service (MAS) was never given the chance to succeed as badly defined underlying objectives meant it was always trying to "deliver on too many fronts" and making it difficult to excel in any.

Statutory objectives handed to the MAS at its formation were too broad, pushing it to replicate services already available elsewhere and effectively wasting taxpayer's and industry's money, the government admitted in a call for input published on 17 March, in which it heralded the abolition of the service. But an adviser warned scrapping MAS, alongside its pensions equivalent The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and the government's at-retirement guidance service Pension Wise, was a step too far and was "wrecking what was already there". The government's damning conclusion on MAS' per...

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