Two in three UK adults aged 45-65 view the government as doing “terribly” in its attempts to make using Pension Wise the norm for pension guidance, according to new research.

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman has said that using Pension Wise - the government-funded free pension guidance service - should be the norm but figures from the FCA show that only 14% of pension pots were accessed after the saver had made use of the service.

Research from retirement specialist Just Group found that most people think the Government is falling short in encouraging use of the Pension Wise Service.

Almost half (45%) of 45-to-65-year-olds surveyed said that the Government was performing “quite terribly” in its attempts to make use of Pension Wise the norm with an additional 22% saying it was performing “terribly”.

Just one in 10 said the Government was doing well.

Those surveyed said that the norm would be a behaviour common to around seven in ten of the population, over a four-fold increase on the usage reported by the FCA.

Stephen Lowe, group communications director Just Group, said the research showed people were not impressed by the results of changes made so far to boost guidance usage, such as TV adverts and better signposting of the service in pension communications.

He called for the FCA to automatically book people into appointments to help transform Pension Wise usage.

He said: “Automatically booking people onto appointments would help to transform Pension Wise usage. The highly successful policy of automatic enrolment into workplace pensions shows that inertia can be a force for good – applying this to guidance would be a great first step towards increasing take-up and achieving better retirement outcomes for millions.”

• Research based on FCA data and Just market research of over 2,000 adults in January carried out by Opinium.