I'm concerned that the Money and Pensions Service is planning to close down the Retirement Adviser Directory on 17 December and the impact it’ll have on consumers looking for independent financial advice.

The directory has been built and populated with a large number of independent financial advisers. Closing it down seems like a backwards step.

How can members of the public find impartial information about potential financial advisers?

Got a pension question? Email Steve at [email protected] 

Steve Webb replies: Like you, I was also concerned when I heard that the Retirement Adviser Directory operated by the Money and Pension Service (now branded as MoneyHelper) will close in December 2025.

Those who want to take advantage of the existing site until it closes down can find it here: Find a regulated financial adviser

As your question suggests, it can be far from straightforward to find a financial adviser who is right for you.

Until now, the MoneyHelper site has been one of the few places which I have been able to signpost with any confidence.

The great advantage of the MoneyHelper directory is that it is free, impartial and non-commercial.

For example, on the home page of the directory it says: 'We don’t receive any incentive or commission and won’t share your details or contact you.'

Once this directory is gone, if you simply search online for an adviser, you are more likely to find yourself on a site where the only details you will see are for advisers who have paid to be on the site.

There may be other advisers which would be more suitable for your needs, or with lower charges, but unless they have paid to be listed you will not see them.

Another risk is that if you enter your personal details on a site which promises to find you a financial adviser you may then find yourself on mailing lists for various financial promotions.

The MoneyHelper site says that the advisers which it lists 'can choose from a wide range of providers'.

This means that you are unlikely to end up with an adviser which will only offer you in-house financial products. Instead, you can easily find one which will consider a much wider range of options.

When you source your own adviser it can be much harder to be clear whether it is truly independent or whether it is restricted in some way in terms of the providers which it will consider.

All of this raises the question as to what people will do when this site disappears.

I raised these concerns with MoneyHelper and a spokesman said: 'We don’t take the decision to decommission our guidance tools lightly. 

'Many organisations and advisers listed on the Retirement Adviser Directory are also on other established directories which have broader reach and greater use.

'We are working closely with the advisers affected to ensure a smooth transition.

'Since the Retirement Adviser Directory launched 10 years ago, the landscape has evolved significantly and there are now a wide range of free retirement adviser directories in place.

'To ensure we provide the most appropriate services, we are focusing on supporting our customers where guidance is not readily available.

'We will direct people to the existing free directories and provide new MoneyHelper content, which will help people understand the difference between guidance and advice, what to expect from an adviser and how to choose one with confidence. '

In future, I understand that MoneyHelper will signpost to a range of other sites including:

- Unbiased, a directory of over 27,000 advisers covering pensions, investments, mortgages and so on;

- The Personal Finance Society, a professional body for financial planners and advisers;

- VouchedFor, a site where you can view reviews of financial advisers left by clients;

- Society of Later Life Advisers, a group of advisers specialising in later life financial advice.

It is however important to understand and investigate for yourself what these different sites will do, and how this differs from the existing Retirement Advisory Directory. 

Probably the highest profile of those listed is ‘Unbiased’, and on the face of it, a site like this should be able to connect you to an appropriate adviser.

However, some advisers have been critical of sites like this on the grounds that:

- Despite the title ‘unbiased’, not all advisers on the directory are truly *independent* financial advisers; for example, some may be limited to choosing from a particular product provider rather than searching across the market;

- Where customers ask the site to link them up with an adviser, the site will only choose from advisers who pay to be included and not the full 27,000 mentioned in the headline;

- Advisers will – inevitably – prefer clients with more assets, and so those with smaller pots may find it harder to find an adviser.

I put these concerns to Unbiased which said:

'The term “unbiased” refers to the way our service operates. 

'Our goal is to connect consumers to the most relevant FCA-regulated professionals for their situation, and advisers on our platform include independent financial advisers (IFAs) as well as restricted advisers, reflecting the reality of consumer choice in the regulated advice market... 

'Consumers can clearly see whether an adviser is independent or restricted before they engage.

'We actively encourage advisers to support consumers at all stages of wealth. 

'In fact, thousands of people with modest savings successfully find advice through Unbiased every month, and we have seen an increase in the number of firms specialising in smaller pension pots.

'Profiles of all advisers, paying and non-paying, can be viewed on Unbiased.co.uk, and consumers are connected through our site to those paying to access our service, a significantly large number nationwide.'

I can’t help thinking that the loss of a non-commercial directory such as that offered by MoneyHelper is a backward step.

Consumers will still have options, but they will have to be more on their guard to make sure they thoroughly research their chosen adviser, including whether they are truly ‘independent’ or not.