The announcement comes after findings from the Financial Advice Market Review report released this week which says that those who need financial advice the most are struggling to access it due somewhat to prohibitive costs. It called on the FCA to help employers offer financial support to their employees.
The FAMR report suggested that firms and companies want to be able to help their staff but were confused about what support they were allowed to give.
Victoria Raffe commented:
“It needs to be much easier for people to get help on their finances, and their place of work is an obvious option. It’s also in the interests of employers to do so, given the clear link between an employee's financial health and their performance at work."
“The FCA must make it clearer what support employers can provide their staff to help them better manage their finances. As part of this, it's absolutely critical that lower paid employees get easy access to solutions that help them pay off high cost credit, the cause of significant financial distress.”
Asesh Sarkar, Chief Executive of financial employee benefit SalaryFinance, added:
“Employers have the ability to make a hugely positive difference to the financial well being of their staff. By leveraging their scale and infrastructure, often at little or no extra cost to them, employees can be provided access to valuable financial help. As an example, SalaryFinance works with employers to help their staff payoff their debt faster and save towards their financial goals. By leveraging payroll staff get access to much better value products, at no cost or risk to their employer.”
