Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 10807, how many free guidance sessions with Pension Wise have been held for those with defined contribution pensions in each year since October 2015; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of such sessions which will be held in 2018.

The number of Pension Wise website visits and appointments has grown significantly from a standing start when the service launched in April 2015, and is still rising.

Pension Wise delivered 61,000 face to face and telephone appointments in 2015/16, 66,000 in 2016/17 and is on track to deliver more than 80,000 in 2017/18.

There have been around 6.2 million visits to the pension wise website since launch.

In July 2017 Pension Wise introduced digital appointments, which guide users through their pension options, scams and tax implications online. Digital appointments mirror the content provided in a face to face or telephone appointment. So far, Pension Wise has delivered almost 22,000 digital appointments.