Advice, guidance and finding a financial adviser

When you need help with money, the help on offer falls into two very different categories, and the difference matters. Guidance is general information and signposting: it explains how things work, what your options are and where to go next, but it stops short of telling you what to do. Advice is a personalised recommendation about a specific product or course of action, and by law it can only be given by a firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)¹. Advisers usually charge for that recommendation².

The good news is that a great deal of what people need is guidance, and the main source of it is free. MoneyHelper offers free, impartial money and pension guidance, backed by government³. It was launched in June 2021 and brought together three former government-backed guidance providers: the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise⁴. This page explains what guidance covers, where the free services sit, how to find and check a regulated adviser when you need one, and what neither service will do for you.

Guidance or advice: what each one gives you

The two words are often used as if they meant the same thing, but in financial services they carry distinct meanings, and the distinction is set out in official guidance. Guidance is a broader term including general information and signposting about pensions, which does not include a recommendation. Advice is a personalised recommendation, and it can only be provided by Financial Conduct Authority regulated firms on the Financial Services Register¹.

In practice, the difference shows up in what you can ask and what you get back. If you ask a guidance service whether a pension or an investment suits your situation, it will explain the options, how each one works, the risks and the tax rules, and where to find out more. It will not tell you which one to pick. If you ask an adviser the same question, the adviser can recommend a specific product, and that recommendation carries legal weight: if it turns out to be unsuitable, you may be able to complain and, in some circumstances, claim compensation. That is why advice costs money. An independent financial or pensions adviser can help you decide which personal pension is suitable for you, and they usually charge for giving advice².

Neither category is better than the other; they answer different questions. Guidance suits people who want to understand a decision well enough to make it themselves. Advice suits people who want a professional to take responsibility for a recommendation, usually because the sums are large, the situation is complicated, or the decision is hard to reverse. Many people use both: free guidance first, then paid advice if the decision still needs a personal recommendation.

MoneyHelper: free, impartial guidance backed by government

MoneyHelper is the government-backed consumer service for money and pensions. It offers free, impartial guidance that is backed by government³, and its support and guidance are free to the person using them⁸. It is run by the Money and Pensions Service, which provides free and impartial debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance to members of the public⁹.

MoneyHelper was launched in June 2021 as a consumer-facing service to offer free and impartial money and pensions guidance⁴. It brings together the support and services of three former government-backed financial guidance providers: the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise⁴. If you remember those older names, they all now lead to the same place. The service offers clear guidance online, over the phone and face-to-face, and it also points users to trusted services if more specialised help is needed¹⁰.

Because it is free and does not sell anything, MoneyHelper sits outside the usual commercial incentives. It is described in official material as a government backed service that can help you find a way forward if you are worried about money and finding it difficult to know where to start¹¹. That makes it a sensible first stop for most money questions, including ones you might eventually take to a paid adviser: you can arrive at that conversation better informed, with a clearer idea of what you actually need.

What MoneyHelper covers, from budgeting to divorce

The free and impartial MoneyHelper service provides a range of guidance and tools to help you manage your money¹². That range is wide. It spans everyday budgeting and savings, pensions and retirement planning, and specific life events where money decisions get difficult.

Retirement is a particular focus. MoneyHelper's get retirement guidance tool works by asking a small number of questions, covering the types of pension you have, how far away from retirement you are, and whether you are planning on retiring outside the UK. It then matches your circumstances with the guidance and tools most likely to be useful⁶. The output is a retirement action plan: key information to help you understand your options, suggested steps to make the most of your pension, useful tools to estimate how much retirement income you might need, and where you can get help and support with your decisions⁶. The tool was launched to help people approaching retirement create a personalised action plan to follow¹⁰.

Divorce is another area where MoneyHelper runs a dedicated service. A free pensions and divorce appointment service can guide you on your next steps, including where to find additional help and how to access regulated financial advice if needed¹³. Pensions can be part of a divorce settlement, and the Money and Pensions Service has highlighted how few people are aware of this, which is why the appointment service exists¹³.

MoneyHelper also covers scams, with a Financial Crimes and Scams Unit, and debt, through signposting to free debt advice covered later on this page. If your question is about a complaint rather than a decision, MoneyHelper can also play a role there: you can complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman about how your workplace pension is managed¹⁴.

Pension Wise: free guidance before you take take your pension

Pension Wise is the pension-specific arm of the free guidance offer. It is a free and impartial government guidance service¹⁵, described in official terms as a free at the point of use pensions guidance service set up by the Government¹⁶. It offers free face-to-face and telephone guidance, alongside its website, to help people understand the range of choices available when they come to take a defined contribution pension¹⁶.

Appointments are normally for people aged 50 or over¹⁷. You may be able to get one if you are under 50 and retiring early due to poor health, if you have inherited a pension, or if your scheme lets you take your pension before age 55¹⁷. If you are 50 or over, you can get a free Pension Wise appointment alongside MoneyHelper's general pension guidance¹⁸.

The point of the appointment is to make sure you understand your options before you commit to one, because decisions about how to take a pension are usually irreversible. A guidance specialist will explain the choices, such as leaving the pot invested, buying a guaranteed income, taking adjustable income, or taking the whole pot, and the tax consequences of each. What the appointment will not do is recommend one option over another: that is regulated advice, and Pension Wise is guidance¹⁵.

Free debt advice and where to find it

Debt is the one area where the free service goes beyond guidance: the Money and Pensions Service provides free and impartial debt advice, not just signposting, to members of the public⁹. Debt advice here means a adviser looking at your whole situation and recommending a way through, which may be a debt solution such as a debt management plan, and the advice itself costs you nothing.

You can get free and independent advice on debt management plans, or any kind of debt problem, from organisations like Advice NI¹⁹. Advice NI offers free, confidential and impartial advice and information to help you manage your money²⁰. Many organisations offer this kind of help, and official guidance is consistent: get advice before setting up a plan with a provider, because some financial advisers charge a fee while the free options do not²¹. If you owe money to HMRC, you can get free, confidential and independent advice from a debt adviser²².

Free debt advice is available across the UK, online or over the phone²³. Named sources of free help include StepChange, Which? and Citizens Advice, listed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as places to get free debt advice²⁴, and National Debtline, which provides free, confidential and independent debt advice²⁵. In Wales, the Welsh Government points people to the Money Helper for free and impartial money advice²⁶.

If a debt problem has tipped into a dispute with a lender, the debt section explains the solutions and your rights, and writing a complaint covers how to raise it formally.

How to contact MoneyHelper: phone, webchat, WhatsApp and Welsh-language help

MoneyHelper offers a bilingual service via a variety of channels, with tools and helplines in English and Welsh²⁷. The main helpline is 0800 138 7777²⁷. Some Money and Pensions Service material also lists 0800 011 3797 as a contact number¹³, so if one line does not connect it is worth trying the other. UK calls are free and may be recorded to improve the service⁶.

You can also start a conversation with a pension expert on MoneyHelper via webchat, WhatsApp, or a phone call²⁸. The WhatsApp number is +44 (0)7701 342744, with replies between Monday and Friday, 9am to 5pm, except bank holidays⁶. Webchat runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and is closed at weekends and on bank holidays⁶.

For services in Welsh, visit www.helpwrarian.org.uk or call 0800 756 1012²⁹. All of MoneyHelper's scams information is available in Welsh³⁰. If English or Welsh is not your first language, MoneyHelper can find an interpreter to help⁶.

How to find a regulated financial adviser

When a decision needs a personal recommendation, you need a regulated adviser. There are several established routes to finding one: searching online; checking specialist investment publications; talking to your accountant or solicitor; checking the investment pages in major newspapers; and contacting trade bodies, like IFA Promotion or the Personal Finance Society⁹.

Whatever route you use, the essential step is checking the firm is authorised. Advice can only be provided by Financial Conduct Authority regulated firms on the Financial Services Register¹. To check, search the FCA register, where searching by your adviser's firm gives the most accurate results³¹. The register shows whether the firm is authorised, what permissions it holds, and whether it has been the subject of any action by the regulator.

Before appointing an adviser, ask how they charge: a fee per piece of advice, an ongoing percentage, or a combination. Ongoing financial advice services typically involve regular reviews and financial guidance provided to a customer by a financial adviser³², and that ongoing relationship is usually charged for. Ask too whether the adviser is independent, meaning they can recommend from the whole market, or restricted, meaning they recommend from a limited range. Both are legitimate, but the difference changes what you are offered.

If something goes wrong with advice you have paid for, you can complain to the firm and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which can look at complaints involving ongoing financial advice services³². The free consumer advice page explains what to do when a dispute with a firm stalls.

What guidance will not do

The limit of guidance is the recommendation. Guidance will not tell you which pension, investment or mortgage to choose, because a recommendation is regulated advice and can only come from an FCA-authorised firm¹. This limit is not a gap in the service; it is the legal line between the two.

The same boundary appears across official information. The Bank of England states it will never provide investment advice or endorsements³³. The Help to Buy: Equity Loan repayment guide states it is for information only and must not be considered as advice³⁴. Even within complaints, MoneyHelper's role is limited: it does not have statutory powers and can only affect a resolution through persuasion and conciliation³⁵.

For pension complaints, the route matters. Only after the scheme's internal dispute process has been exhausted can the member go to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman to try to resolve the complaint³⁵. For workplace pensions, you can complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman about how the pension is managed¹⁴. For the administration of personal pension schemes, including self-invested pensions and group personal pensions, either the Financial Ombudsman Service or The Pensions Ombudsman could help you³⁶.

Scams: MoneyHelper never contacts you out of the blue

Because MoneyHelper is a trusted, government-backed name, scammers try to borrow it. The service is blunt about this. MoneyHelper states: "We'll never contact you out of the blue or charge anyone for our services."⁷ And further: "The Money and Pensions Service has never, and will never, turn up to your home or contact you out of the blue via phone, WhatsApp, email or text."⁷

So a call, message or doorstep visit claiming to be from MoneyHelper is not MoneyHelper. The same warning pattern applies to other official bodies. You will never be asked for your bank details by text, social media, email or via links to click within a text or email³⁷, and the Payment Systems Regulator notes it never contacts members of the public asking for money or bank account details³⁸.

If you have been affected by a scam, MoneyHelper encourages you to talk to an expert there for free, non-judgemental, confidential support³⁹. The Financial Crimes and Scams Unit can be called on 0800 015 4402⁷. The wider scams and fraud section covers the types of scam and how to report one, and stopping unwanted calls covers cutting off the contact in the first place.