I am drawn to this article in CityWire. There are 700,000 who reach retirement with freedom but no pension.

I doubt it is being picked up in the advisory world and I am not sure that it is properly understood in the institutional pensions world where “selling” is considered a difficult concept when the target for purchase is the individual saver or saver wishing to have an income.

The DWP have been known to be thinking this through for some time and it would be good if this thinking came to fruition. Right now millions of the non-advised are not getting anything like a recommendation and are finding pension freedom a pension mystery.

It would seem that new “targeted support” is on its way and I hope this will lead to consumers getting more help than they get today.

It  could mean providers and platforms would be able to use targeted support to send marketing material selling pension products to their customers, unless the customer opts-out.

Targeted support rules are currently being developed by the FCA, with the next paper expected in June. The new framework will let pension providers suggest solutions for a group of customers who have common characteristics, without straying into advice.

Customers would answer a limited number of questions and providers could make suggestions and say things such as ‘clients in a similar position to you did X’, without straying into advice.

Last week the City minister Emma Reynolds said chancellor Rachel Reeves sees the targeted support reforms as a ‘specific priority’.

The FCA recently concluded a six-week policy sprint of how providers, banks and platforms could offer targeted support, with the likes of St James’s Place, Quilter and Hargreaves Lansdown taking part.

A spokesperson for the DWP said it does not comment on speculation.

‘Our Pension Schemes Bill will help over 15 million people, including by bringing savers’ pension pots together in one place which could boost pension pots by £11,000, while our pensions dashboard programme will empower individuals to better prepare for retirement,’

the DWP said.

We do not know what the DWP and FCA’s answer will be, but that they are looking at support for those who need it but cannot get it under current rules, has to be a step forward.

I hope that we will hear more on this sooner rather than later. I know of people in desperate need of targeted support and I know there are those in both the FCA and DWP who share my concern and are working on answers to the questions that abound.

It has been a long time brewing – see below