One in eight clients have suffered financial damage as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, according to a new nationwide financial adviser survey.

Advisers told The Openwork Partnership that 12% of their clients have taken a financial hit due to the impact of the pandemic, with just 8% of advisers saying none of their clients have been adversely affected.

Almost half (48%) of advisers said they have clients who have stopped saving or investing during the pandemic, whilst 32% said they have clients who have had to utilise their savings during the pandemic.

Almost a fifth of the advisers surveyed (19%) said they have clients who have taken money out of pension funds to tide them over during the pandemic, whilst 31% said clients have taken tax-free lump sums from pensions earlier than planned.

According to HMRC, 1.778m people have withdrawn £12.04bn in flexible payments from pensions between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2021. However, average withdrawals in the first three months of this year dropped slightly year on year to around £6,800.

Over a quarter (27%) of the advisers surveyed by The Openwork Partnership said they have clients that have sold investments whilst 5% said clients have sold buy-to-let properties to make ends meet. An additional 4% of advisers said clients have downsized to smaller homes.

According to the survey, clients have also been using their investments to help family members during the pandemic. Two in five (41%) of advisers surveyed said they had seen a rise in clients taking money out of investments to help themselves or family members.

Mike Morrow, chief commercial officer at The Openwork Partnership, said advisers are seeing the impact of the pandemic on the ground. He added that as the UK starts to recover from the pandemic financial advisers can prove their worth.

He said: “The value of financial advice and financial advisers will be very important as the UK starts to recover from the financial impact of the crisis, demonstrating how vital advice is and the role it plays in what are very personal situations.”

Research was conducted among 100 financial advisers across the UK by Pollright on behalf of The Openwork Partnership in January 2021.