The Single Financial Guidance Body (SFGB) was launched on 3 January 2019. It brings together three existing providers of financial guidance – the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise – to form a “one-stop shop”. The SFGB’s core functions will be:
- pensions guidance on workplace and personal pensions
- money guidance to enhance people’s understanding and knowledge of financial matters and day-to-day money management skills
- debt advice
- consumer protection, working with Government and the FCA to protect consumers, and
- working with the financial services industry, devolved authorities and the public and voluntary sectors to develop a national strategy to improve people’s financial capability, help them manage debt and provide financial education for children and young people.
The SFGB is funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes. Staff from the current three organisations have transferred to it to ensure continuity of service.
Looking forward, the SFGB is going to be renamed and will be involved in realising the first pensions dashboard (which will bring together pensions information from multiple sources to allow individuals to access their pension information in a single place online).