UK Thorsen Review Announces Pilots Of Generic Financial Advice

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

11 September 2007

The Thoresen Review, an independent review set up by HM Treasury to look at how Generic Financial Advice (GFA) can be provided, has announced that a pilot scheme will be launched later this month in select areas of the UK, to test out a range of options and evidence the review has gathered.

The GFA pilots will go live on September 17 in the North West, London, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire. They will operate in partnership with Citizens Advice Bureau, Cumbria County Council, IT service provider Agilisys, and the private sector training business A4e.

The pilots will for the first time test GFA across three channels - the telephone, the web and face-to-face. They aim to reach more than 5000 consumers, providing guidance or information, not regulated advice, on a range of areas from jargon busting, to budgeting, tax and benefits, saving and planning for retirement.

The web pilot will be based on the FSA's 'moneymadeclear' website, which has a range of GFA tools such as calculators and comparison tables. The pilots will test out a variety of marketing techniques, including local radio, leaflet drops and promotion by intermediaries (such as GP surgeries and other advice agencies) to invite the target market to ring the GFA pilot telephone number or access the website.

The scheme will remain live until 17 December, with consumers encouraged to take part through local marketing and communications campaigns with the help of local and regional organisations. The results from the independent evaluation of the pilots will be published in the final Thoresen Review report in early 2008.

Otto Thoresen stated that:

"These pilots represent an important step within the review process. Working directly with consumers will give us valuable practical insight into how a generic financial information and guidance system may be developed."

"The Government wants everybody to be able to get good financial advice easily and simply. Generic financial advice has the potential to help people across the UK to manage their money and to ask the right questions of financial suppliers. These pilots are vital to help determine what will work well for consumers and the results will be of interest to government, industry and consumer groups alike. I look forward to the outcome of the pilots with great interest, and the final Thoresen Review report which they will help to inform."

The Thoresen Review was announced in January 2007 by the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Ed Balls MP, as part of the Government's long-term approach to financial capability. Its remit is to research and design a national approach to Generic Financial Advice.

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