The investments and savings association, TISA, has voiced its support for a single financial guidance body (SFGB) to work closely with financial services firms to assist with the "chronic economic crisis of under-saving".

TISA believes that a SFGB working alongside the private sector could help to provide consumers with the correct guidance when it comes to savings.

Highlighting its reasons for favouring an SFGB, TISA noted that one third of UK households have no savings at all and 66 per cent have £1,500 or less, with 40 per cent of adults not in control of their finances, leading to high levels of debt, low savings and financial insecurity through working life and retirement.

Also, while auto-enrolment has largely been a success, there are still six million employees who fall outside of the trigger and an additional 4.5 million self-employed people are not covered by the scheme either. This represents over a third of the private sector workforce. In addition, for those saving into a pensions, the majority are currently saving too little.

TISA noted that such a body should focus on financial education, short, medium and long term savings, helping those in debt, and enhancing resilience and protecting consumers from scams and fraud.

“Financial guidance must be made accessible to everyone, with particular attention paid to how these services are provided to the elderly and more vulnerable. There is a nationwide savings gap which needs to be addressed through greater awareness of the importance of long-term saving, improved accessibility and guidance that covers the full range of consumer needs,” TISA director Charles McCready said.

“The Money Advice Service, The Pension Advisory Service and more recently, PensionWise have provided valuable guidance to consumers and encouraged higher levels of saving, both for retirement and to provide resilience against the life emergencies. We believe that their services should be consolidated into a single financial guidance body for greater consumer clarity and engagement.

“Our recommendation is that this should be delivered through multiple channels such as face-face, call centres and online support and achieved through working with both the private and public sector to ensure a consistent consumer experience underpinned by the latest relevant technology and products. The SFGB should also co-ordinate their services with other strategic initiatives including auto-enrolment, pensions dashboard, portable fact finds and digital ID so that the consumer experience feels integrated and easy to use.

“TISA agrees with HMT and DWP that consolidating the Money Advice Service, The Pension Advisory Service and PensionWise into a single financial guidance body presents a great opportunity to provide a step change in the way that guidance services enhance consumer engagement. We hope to work with the government on the creation of such a body and delivering guidance to the mass market alongside the financial service firms keen to offer such services.”

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