A new cross-sector Retirement Income Taskforce (RIT), supported by the Consumer Duty Alliance (CDA), is being launched to collectively tackle the mounting and multiple challenges facing the public and sector alike, writes Keith Richards, CEO of the Consumer Duty Alliance.

Following the Treasury and FCA joint consultation on the advice / guidance boundary with the aim of addressing an ever widening ‘advice gap’ the reality is that too many consumers are unaware and unengaged with life event savings goals and retirement planning.

The Taskforce believes that millions are at risk of unnecessarily sleep walking into a life of poverty during later life, or forced to work into their seventies.

Using the outcomes-based principles of Consumer Duty as its compass, the Taskforce is calling on Government and regulators to work with the sector to address and help mitigate foreseeable harm, which is now so evident.

The new Taskforce will be chaired by Margaret Snowdon OBE, with myself Keith Richards, CEO of the Consumer Duty Alliance (CDA), acting as sponsor and the CDA providing secretariat and operational support.

The cross-sector Steering Group is made up of many of the founding members of the previous Pensions Advice Taskforce (PAT), which established a widely-adopted consumer guide known as the Pension Transfer Gold Standard in 2018. PAT was subsequently disbanded in mid 2021, after its chair, Keith Richards, stepped down.

Members of the cross-sector Steering Group are senior stakeholders who represent consumer bodies, industry bodies, financial advisers (both large and small), scheme administrators, pension providers, PI insurers, trade bodies and compliance consultants, all with experience of both individual and workplace pensions.

The Taskforce’s Terms of Reference will also incorporate and augment the many current industry initiatives aimed at helping consumers better understand and engage with planning for their retirement needs. Multiple engagement needs to be through advice, workplace information, support, and guidance.

RIT is aiming to deliver practical interventions to help address the challenges and opportunities faced by consumers and the wider market, stemming from Pension Freedoms, economic and political dynamics and the lack of consumer awareness and engagement towards retirement income planning.

The Consumer Duty Alliance has been the fastest growing independent membership body over the past year and is set to potentially be the largest Professional Alliance body for the sector. It is uniquely different as a one-of-a-kind professional body as a Community Interest Company and has no commercial activities to compete with others or to create potential conflicts of interest.

The Alliance is consumer focused and aims to support the sector in the ownership and implementation of Consumer Duty. It has attracted many of the sector’s key stakeholders with firms including Threesixty Services, SimplyBiz, NextGen Planners, Verve, and Quilter becoming early adopters.

Legal and General and Howden are Foundation Affiliates of the CDA and have supported its evolution through the strategic direction of a pro-bono board and CEO.

With over 15,000 members and over 60 Affiliates, the Alliance expects to exceed 20,000 members by the end of 2024.

It's free to join as an individual Member and Associate firm, providing digital badges to demonstrate membership and a commitment to an independent set of standards and adoption of a Financial Vulnerability Charter.

Being part of the Alliance also offers Members, Associates and Affiliates a segway to talk about their services as part of a wider united profession.

Voluntary membership of a truly independent professional body is a way of demonstrating a commitment above and beyond mandated rules, and the sharing of good practice helps with benchmarking and the consistent delivery of good consumer and business outcomes.  

Keith Richards is chief executive officer of the Consumer Duty Alliance. The Consumer Duty Alliance was launched in March 2023 as a ‘not-for-profit’, independent professional membership body and is formed by a cross-sector 'alliance of affiliates.' Its purpose is to unite the retail financial services sector to 'inspire greater confidence and trust in financial advice and Financial Planning by supporting the delivery of consistently good outcomes' so that firms are seen alongside other professional services as a ‘safe pair of hands’. The Alliance incorporates the Financial Vulnerability Taskforce, New Talent Alliance and the Retirement Income Taskforce. Individuals and firms can join the Alliance for free by adopting an independent Code of Professional Standards, a benchmark of good practice. e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information see www.consumerduty.org