Talk:Money and Pensions Service

November 2015
This page is badly out of date and potentially misleading. We have written some new content as objectively as we can but we're not sure if it's acceptable to edit the page ourselves (or to create a new one)? MAS (talk) 16:59, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Edit request
COI: I am an employee of the Money Advice Service.

Existing page entirely out of date and potentially misleading to consumers. Propose delete in entirety. Proposed replacement text as below. MASMBS (talk) 14:56, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

Introduction
The Money Advice Service is a UK-wide organisation dedicated to helping people manage their money better. It can be contacted via its website www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk or by telephone on 0300 500 5000.

The Money Advice Service’s main functions are:


 * leading and co-ordinating a new Financial Capability Strategy for the UK;


 * providing information and advice to consumers on a wide range of money matters; and


 * funding and co-ordinating the provision of debt advice

Financial Capability Strategy for the UK
The Financial Capability Strategy for the UK aims to help people manage their money better day to day and through major life events, and to deal with periods of financial difficulty.

The Strategy was formally launched on 28 October 2015.The Strategy will be led by a new Financial Capability Board, with the Money Advice Service providing the secretariat.

The Money Advice Service will have a significant role in co-ordinating initiatives across the sector to ensure that consumers are receiving consistent messages, that any gaps in the provision of advice and guidance are filled, and that there is minimal duplication. The Money Advice Service will also lead on gathering evidence and on the evaluation of projects so that a more reliable assessment can be made of ‘what works’ in terms of making tangible improvements to financial capability.

Money advice
In line with its statutory function (see below) the Service provides information and advice to consumers across a wide range of money matters. The Money Advice Service is available online at www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk and six days a week by webchat and telephone. The telephone number for the Service is 0300 500 5000. The Service can also be contacted by email at enquiries@moneyadviceservice.org.uk. The Money Advice Service makes its tools and content freely available to partner organisations for use on their own websites and in other customer communications.

Debt advice
The Money Advice Service is the largest single funder of debt advice in the UK. In 2015/16 it will – through its partners – aim to deliver 370,000 sessions of free debt advice.

In addition to its funding role, the Money Advice Service has a wider statutory responsibility for the co-ordination of debt advice services – both the free services it funds directly and the wider sector (including fee-charging services). Under the Financial Service Act 2012, the Money Advice Service is responsible for improving the availability, quality and consistency of debt advice.

Background and statutory basis
The Money Advice Service was set up to help tackle low levels of financial capability in the UK. In 2007, the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Ed Balls, commissioned the Thoresen Review of Generic Financial Advice (published in March 2008) which found that a national service to provide ‘money guidance’ would be beneficial.

The Financial Services Act 2010 (amending the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) established the Consumer Financial Education Body (cfeb), which ran a pilot service in the North-East and North-West of England under the brand Moneymadeclear. The Money Advice Service went live as a nationwide service in April 2011.

The Financial Services Act 2012 further amended the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to incorporate new responsibilities for the Money Advice Service around debt advice.

The Money Advice Service has a single statutory function (“the consumer financial education function”) which is described in legislation as follows:


 * The consumer financial education function is to enhance—
 * (a) the understanding and knowledge of members of the public of financial matters (including the UK financial system), and


 * (b) the ability of members of the public to manage their own financial affairs.


 * The consumer financial education function includes, in particular—


 * (a) promoting awareness of the benefits of financial planning;


 * (b) promoting awareness of the financial advantages and disadvantages in relation to particular decisions relating to different kinds of goods or services;


 * (c) promoting awareness of the benefits and risks associated with different kinds of financial dealing (which includes informing the FCA and other bodies of those benefits and risks);


 * (d) the publication of educational materials or the carrying out of other educational activities;


 * (e) the provision of information and advice to members of the public;


 * (f) assisting members of the public with the management of debt;


 * (g) working with other organisations which provide debt services, with a view to improving—


 * (i) the availability to the public of those services;


 * (ii) the quality of the services provided;


 * (iii) consistency in the services available, in the way in which they are provided and in the advice given.”

Funding
The Money Advice Service is funded by two separate levies on the financial services industry – one covering the Service’s debt advice activities, the other for its wider money advice and financial capability initiatives. These levies are collected from firms by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The Service’s total budget in 2015/16 is £81.1 million, comprising £34.1 million for money advice and £47 million for debt advice. The debt advice budget is offset by a voluntary £2 million contribution from firms in the energy and water supply sectors, thereby reducing the debt advice levy to £45 million. A more detailed breakdown is available in the Service’s 2015/16 Business Plan.

Farnish Review
The legislation establishing the Money Advice Service included provision for a review of its operation. In May 2014 then Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrea Leadsom appointed Christine Farnish to conduct an independent review of the Service. Her report was published by the Treasury on 20 March 2015, containing 25 specific recommendations on how the Money Advice Service could improve.

In particular, it proposed that in light of changes in the advice landscape – and in particular the expansion of online services available to consumers from a variety of sources – the Money Advice Service should reconsider its own website provision and focus on its strategic role, leveraging the impact of other organisations on consumers’ financial behaviour.

Money Advice Service response
In its immediate response to the Farnish Review, the Money Advice Service accepted most of the recommendations made and indicated that these were in alignment with the Service’s existing direction of travel.

For six of the 25 recommendations, however, the Service undertook further analysis. To assist this work, it established a ‘Challenge Panel’ consisting of independent experts. The Service is due to submit its analysis to HM Treasury before the end of 2015.

Financial Advice Market Review and Public Financial Guidance consultation
On 3 August 2015, HM Treasury and the FCA announced a new Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR), to be led by the FCA, with HM Treasury leading on a consultation on the provision of public financial guidance to run alongside. The consultation will look at:


 * demand for the public provision of debt, pensions and general money guidance;


 * how the provision of public financial guidance should be structured and funded; and


 * how the Government can make the provision of public financial guidance more effective for consumers.


 * The proposed draft has issues with some promotional wordings (e.g. "dedicated to helping people manage their money better", also telephone numbers typically are not included in Wikipedia articles), and also needs more in-line citations to support the claims made in the article. We would like to help correct any details that are out-of-date, but it would be better to highlight specifically what is outdated and propose separate changes for each inaccuracy. Thanks, Altamel (talk) 21:00, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

New organisation name
Please can the page be edited to reflect the fact that the Money Advice Service has now been succeeded by a new organisation, the Money and Pensions Service?

For reference, existing article opening sentence: The Money Advice Service is an organisation established with cross Government party support, that provides free and impartial advice on money and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom.

The suggested changes are: - Replace references to "Money Advice Service" in the title, opening paragraph and paragraph 2 to read "Money and Pensions Service"

- Add at the foot of the article: In January 2019, The Single Financial Guidance Body replaced the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. The new organisation's remit was to provide debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance in the same place.

The launch of the Money and Pensions Service brand took place in April 2019, replacing The Single Financial Guidance Body following parliamentary approval of the new name. Its first action will be a UK-wide series of events giving organisations and businesses the chance to help shape the Money and Pensions Service National Strategy and establish the three-year corporate plan, which is to be announced later in 2019. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.184.195.130 (talk) 14:34, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Reply 11-APR-2019

 * Your edit request could not be reviewed because the provided references are not formatted correctly. The citation style predominantly used by the Money Advice Service article is Citation Style 1 (CS1). The citation style used in the edit request consists of bare URL's. Any requested edit of yours which may be implemented will need to resemble the current style already in use in the article – in this case, CS1. (See WP:CITEVAR.) In the extended section below titled Citation style, I have illustrated two examples: one showing how the edit request was submitted, and another showing how requests should be submitted in the future:

Bare URL reference formatting: The Sun's diameter is 864,337.3 miles,[1] while the Moon's diameter is 2,159 miles.[2] The Sun's temperature is 5,778 degrees Kelvin.[3]

References

1. 2.  3.

In the example above there are three URL's provided with the claim statements, but these URL's have not been placed using Citation Style 1, which is the style predominantly used by the Money Advice Service article. Using this style, the WikiFormatted text should resemble the following:

Citation Style 1 formatting: The Sun's diameter is 864,337.3 miles, while the Moon's diameter is 2,159 miles. The Sun's temperature is 5,778 degrees Kelvin. Displays as: The Sun's diameter is 864,337.3 miles,[1] while the Moon's diameter is 2,159 miles.[2] The Sun's temperature is 5,778 degrees Kelvin.[3]

References

^ Sjöblad, Tristan. . Academic Press, 2018, p. 1. ^ Harinath, Paramjit. , Science, 51(78):46. ^ Uemura, Shū. . Academic Press, 2018, p. 2. 

In the example above the references have been formatted according to Citation Style 1, which shows the author, the source's name, date, etc., all information which is lost when only the links are provided. As Wikipedia is a volunteer project, edit requests such yours are generally expected to have this formatting done before the request is submitted for review.

Kindly rewrite your edit request so that it aligns more with the second example shown in the collapsed section above, and feel free to re-submit that edit request at your earliest convenience. The IP editor is also asked to remember: If you have any questions about this formatting please don't hesitate to ask myself or another editor. Regards, Spintendo  14:51, 11 April 2019 (UTC)
 * 1) To sign all posts using four tildes ( x4)
 * 2) To ensure that all the necessary disclosures have been made.

Request edit
Thank you for your response. Updated citations can be found below.

Also, COI is that I work with the external press office for the Money and Pensions Service.

For reference, existing article opening sentence: The Money Advice Service is an organisation established with cross Government party support, that provides free and impartial advice on money and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom.

The suggested changes are: - Replace references to "Money Advice Service" in the title, opening paragraph and paragraph 2 to read "Money and Pensions Service"

- Add at the foot of the article: In January 2019, The Single Financial Guidance Body replaced the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. The new organisation's remit was to provide debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance in the same place.

The launch of the Money and Pensions Service brand took place in April 2019, replacing The Single Financial Guidance Body following parliamentary approval of the new name. Its first action will be a UK-wide series of events giving organisations and businesses the chance to help shape the Money and Pensions Service National Strategy and establish the three-year corporate plan, which is to be announced later in 2019.

85.184.195.130 (talk) 08:56, 12 April 2019 (UTC)DanDJThompson85.184.195.130 (talk) 08:56, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

The proposal is to change the article's name to the Money and Pensions Service, with the claim in the 3rd sentence stating that this is the successor organization to the Money Advice Service. Then, the fourth sentence states "The Single Financial Guidance Body replaced the Money Advice Service". The 6th paragraph goes on to state "Money and Pensions Service brand took place in April 2019, replacing the Single Financial Guidance Body." There seems to be some difficulty settling on a name for this organization. If the name is changed now, are we to be sure it won't change again, or is there a newer name coming next month. Please clarify, is this to change the article's title? The reason why I ask is because sometimes titles are changed after a period of time has elapsed where a majority of sources are using the new name. Again, please confirm if this is to change the title. When ready to proceed with the requested information, kindly change the  template's answer parameter to read from yes to no. Thank you! Spintendo 10:22, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

The Single Financial Guidance Body was a temporary name, in place only until the new name, Money and Pensions Service, received parliamentary approval. Now this has happened, we can be confident in changing the article title. Thank you. 85.184.195.130 (talk) 10:29, 15 April 2019 (UTC)DanDJThompson85.184.195.130 (talk) 10:29, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Reply 15-APR-2019
Spintendo 15:13, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Request edit
COI is that I work with the external press office for the Money and Pensions Service.

Hello, would recommend further edits to this page for clarity and accuracy. This gives further information on the Chair, CEO, more accurately reflects the organisation's history beyond just being a successor to the Money Advice Service as Pension Wise and TPAS were also predecessors. Also added citations and infobox, as articles for equivalent organisations such as StepChange have this to help readers:


 * Money and Pensions Service

The Money and Pensions Service (sometimes stylized as Money & Pensions Service) is an organisation that provides free advice on money, pensions and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom. It is an organisation whose statutory objectives are to enhance the understanding and knowledge of people about financial matters (including the UK financial system) and to enhance their ability to manage their own financial affairs. The service provides free money guidance and debt advice online and by telephone. The organisation was set up by the UK Government and is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry. It is an arm’s-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime.

Its current chair is Sir Hector Sants and the CEO is John Govett. The service was launched in January 2019, combining the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise to form a single guidance body. The decision to merge the organisations into one new body was originally announced in March 2016 by HM Treasury and confirmed in The Queen’s Speech of June 2017.
 * History

The Money and Pensions Service is set to launch its National Strategy and three-year corporate plan in Autumn 2019, following three months of events that seek the views of stakeholders on what should be included in the new strategy.
 * National strategy

85.184.195.130 (talk)DanDJThompson85.184.195.130 (talk)

Reply 04-JUN-2019
Regards, Spintendo  02:20, 5 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The proposal contains claims regarding the company's internal operating schema, i.e., its objectives ("It is an organisation whose statutory objectives are to enhance the understanding and knowledge of people about financial matters (including the UK financial system) and to enhance their ability to manage their own financial affairs"). These claims are placed in the lead section without references.
 * Claims placed in the MOS:LEAD section without references are to be referenced later on in the main prose of the article. This is not the case with the COI editor's current proposal.
 * Additionally, a claim regarding WP:FUTURE events has been placed in the proposal.
 * For these reasons the proposed edits cannot be approved in their entirety.

Request edit
Thanks – have added page references here and reopened edit request


 * Money and Pensions Service

The Money and Pensions Service (sometimes stylized as Money & Pensions Service) is an organisation that provides free advice on money, pensions and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom. It is an organisation whose statutory objectives are to enhance the understanding and knowledge of people about financial matters (including the UK financial system) and to enhance their ability to manage their own financial affairs. The service provides free money guidance and debt advice online and by telephone. The organisation was set up by the UK Government and is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry. It is an arm’s-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime.

Its current chair is Sir Hector Sants and the CEO is John Govett. The service was launched in January 2019, combining the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise to form a single guidance body. The decision to merge the organisations into one new body was originally announced in March 2016 by HM Treasury and confirmed in The Queen’s Speech of June 2017.
 * History

The Money and Pensions Service is currently undertaking three months of events that seek the views of stakeholders on what should be included in its National Strategy and three-year corporate plan.
 * National strategy

85.184.195.130 (talk)DanDJThompson85.184.195.130 (talk)

Reply 19-JUN-2019
Regards, Spintendo  13:08, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The added references solve the citation issue, but they raise an additional one:
 * 1) Two of the provided references (#1 and #3) do not contain page parameter information within their citation templates.
 * 2) One of these references is a document 136 pages in length, whilst the second reference contains 46 pages. The reviewer cannot be expected to read 182 pages in order to verify 2 claims.
 * Please provide this information.


 * I apologize but I'm not seeing the claim It is an organisation whose statutory objectives are to enhance the understanding and knowledge of people about financial matters (including the UK financial system) and to enhance their ability to manage their own financial affairs anywhere in the provided document. I've checked page 8 of the document and pdf page 8 (which is page 4 of the document) and I'm not seeing those claims. Please activate the quote parameter of the citation template and insert the quoted text from the source. The same goes for reference #3 which is on page 6 (document and pdf pages align with this document). Please add the quote from this text which confirms the claims The service provides free money guidance and debt advice online and by telephone. The organisation was set up by the UK Government and is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry.
 * Regards, Spintendo  18:06, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks – have added clearer citations that do not rely on long documents, which should make this easier. Have also updated the CEO title to reflect a change of staff and cited:

Request edit

 * Money and Pensions Service

The Money and Pensions Service (sometimes stylized as Money & Pensions Service) is an organisation that provides free advice on money, pensions and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom. It is an organisation whose statutory objective is to develop and co-ordinate a national strategy to improve people’s financial capability. The service provides free money guidance and debt advice online and by telephone. The organisation was set up by the UK Government and is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry. It is an arm’s-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime.

Its current chair is Sir Hector Sants and the acting CEO is Caroline Siarkiewicz. The service was launched in January 2019, combining the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise to form a single guidance body. The decision to merge the organisations into one new body was originally announced in March 2016 by HM Treasury and confirmed in The Queen’s Speech of June 2017.
 * History

The Money and Pensions Service is currently undertaking three months of events that seek the views of stakeholders on what should be included in its National Strategy and three-year corporate plan.
 * National strategy

85.184.195.130 (talk)Dan DJ Thompson85.184.195.130 (talk)

Reply 27-JUN-2019
"The Money and Pensions Service (sometimes stylized as Money & Pensions Service) is an organisation that provides free advice on money, pensions and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom. It is an organisation whose statutory objective is to develop and co-ordinate a national strategy to improve people’s financial capability. The service provides free money guidance and debt advice online and by telephone. The organisation was set up by the UK Government and is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry. It is an arm’s-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime. Its current chair is Sir Hector Sants and the acting CEO is Caroline Siarkiewicz. The service was launched in January 2019, combining the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise to form a single guidance body. The decision to merge the organisations into one new body was originally announced in March 2016 by HM Treasury and confirmed in The Queen’s Speech of June 2017. The Money and Pensions Service is currently undertaking three months of events that seek the views of stakeholders on what should be included in its National Strategy and three-year corporate plan." Regards, Spintendo  06:24, 27 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Thank you for providing the better sources. That is much appreciated.
 * Unfortunately, the proposal still contains unreferenced information (underlined in blue) as well as claims which do not align with MOS:RELTIME (underlined in orange). These issues are preventing the edits from being implemented as a whole.

Request edit
Have added further sources, linked to an article that explains an arm’s-length body (have stuck with this term though the article links to the Wikipedia page links to Quango as the terms are synonymous, but arm’s-length body is easier to understand for the layperson. Have specified the timeframe for the listening period to align with MOS:RELTIME. Thanks


 * Money and Pensions Service

The Money and Pensions Service (sometimes stylized as Money & Pensions Service) is an organisation that provides free advice on money, pensions and financial decisions to people in the United Kingdom. It is an organisation whose statutory objective is to develop and co-ordinate a national strategy to improve people’s financial capability. The service provides free money guidance and debt advice online and by telephone. The organisation was set up by the UK Government and is paid for by a statutory levy on the financial services industry. It is an arm’s-length body of the Department for Work and Pensions, with a joint commitment to ensuring that people throughout the UK have guidance and access to the information they need to make effective financial decisions over their lifetime.

Its current chair is Sir Hector Sants and the acting CEO is Caroline Siarkiewicz. The service was launched in January 2019, combining the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise to form a single guidance body. The decision to merge the organisations into one new body was originally announced in March 2016 by HM Treasury and confirmed in The Queen’s Speech of June 2017.
 * History

Between April and September 2019, The Money and Pensions Service is undertaking events that seek the views of stakeholders on what should be included in its National Strategy and three-year corporate plan.
 * National strategy

85.184.195.130 (talk)DanDJThompson85.184.195.130 (talk)

Reply 03-JUL-2019
Spintendo 20:39, 3 July 2019 (UTC)