Aviva is to launch an abridged advice service under the Aviva Financial Advice brand which is aimed at people who need help with their Defined Benefit pensions.

The company says the service will help people decide if they need to go on to take full advice.

Aviva has also confirmed it is planning a separate, low cost ‘Simplified Advice’ service offering consumers guidance on questions such as fund choice, bringing two pensions together or maximising employer contributions.

She said this would be provided through a “simpler digitised model at a lower cost.” It will offer “online triage and fact-finding” with an adviser available on the phone at the point of decision-making.

The company says the new DB pensions abridged service should help to bridge the ‘advice gap’ in the UK.

It says recent reports suggest 30% of adults aged 55 or over need financial advice but do not get it. 

Mary Harper, managing director of Aviva Financial Advice, said: "We’re tailoring our proposition so that a broader set of customer needs can be met.

“Previously, if someone came to us to ask about the suitability of transferring their DB pension, they would have to go through the whole advice process even if the recommendation at the end was not to transfer.

“Offering abridged advice means we can take customers through a much simpler process to understand if transferring is not the right thing for them in the first instance. 

“More broadly, we understand the different levels of support that people need – from information gathering to full advice - and we’re tailoring our proposition so that a broader set of customer needs can be met.” 

Aviva cited government figures showing that a minority of people – 44% – feel they understand enough about pensions to make decisions about saving for their retirement, a figure that has not shifted in a decade.

She added that customers need advice on their DB pensions in order to be able to properly review their wealth and retirement strategy. But the Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in “more digitised processes and a departure from the traditional face-to-face adviser / client meetings of old.”

She said Aviva did not believe advice would be “100% face-to-face in the future” but instead would be more “digitised.”