The FCA’s targeted support regime has been live since April 2026; here is what workplace pension providers have actually launched, what the rules allow and forbid, and where regulated advice and the Pension Advice Allowance still fit.

In reading this article you will understand:

  • What targeted support is under the FCA’s PS25/22 rules, what it can and cannot cover in a pensions context, and how it differs for trust-based schemes.
  • Which workplace pension providers have been authorised and what their early use cases look like.
  • How targeted support sits alongside Pension Wise, the Pension Advice Allowance and employer-arranged advice when you advise an employer client.

Targeted support went live on 6 April 2026, the first new tier of help between guidance and regulated advice in a generation. Six months on, it is real but early: by 1 July 2026, according to FCA figures obtained under a Freedom of Information request, 13 firms had applied for permission and seven had been approved, against the FCA’s own estimate that around 96 firms would eventually offer it. Five of those seven are pension and investment providers: Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London, Quilter and Vanguard. For corporate advisers, the question is what this means for the members of the schemes you advise, and how it changes the case for advice.

What the Rules Allow

The FCA confirmed the regime in PS25/22, published on 11 December 2025, and opened the authorisation gateway on 2 March 2026. Targeted support lets an authorised firm give suggestions designed for groups of consumers who share common characteristics, without the individual suitability assessment that a personal recommendation requires. The FCA’s pensions examples include members drawing down at an unsustainable rate, members unsure about taking a retirement income, savers holding only cash, and suggesting an annuity or annuity features. There are firm limits: a firm cannot recommend a particular annuity product, and it cannot suggest that someone consolidates their pensions, because that needs a full view of the individual’s circumstances.

Firms may charge for targeted support if the charge is disclosed and agreed, but commission is banned, other than referral payments to annuity brokers under existing rules. Consumer Duty underpins the regime, the Financial Ombudsman can hear complaints and the FSCS covers claims. The Treasury has also committed to legislation so that workplace pension providers can send targeted support to members who haven’t opted out of marketing.

Trust-based schemes sit differently. Trustees are generally not FCA-authorised, and support given within a scheme usually falls outside FCA regulation unless trustees are acting by way of business or touching FCA products such as external annuities. We have not found a separate DWP or Pensions Regulator regime for trustees, so for master trusts and single-employer schemes it’s worth asking how any member support is being structured.

What Providers Have Launched

Royal London was approved on 7 April 2026, estimating that 21.5 million people could benefit from targeted support, and has said it will set out the scope of its service later; trade press reports that it is aiming for a pensions launch by the end of 2026. Legal & General announced its approval on 1 May 2026, with a first use case aimed at workplace DC members whose pension is held entirely in cash; in testing in February 2026, 85% of people said they wanted to read the material, 95% found it easy to understand and 93% were clear on next steps, and it will feed into L&G’s Guided Income proposition. Aviva announced its approval on 17 June 2026 and is rolling out in phases from the summer, starting with pension customers. Quilter was granted permission on 8 April 2026 and is building its service through Quilter Invest, while Vanguard launched targeted support on its UK Personal Investor platform in July 2026 for first-time investors; neither is focused on workplace schemes, and Hargreaves Lansdown has said it is building several use cases. We found no targeted support announcement yet from Scottish Widows, Standard Life, Nest or The People’s Pension.

The early use cases are narrow and practical: cash-only savers, drawdown rates and the retirement income decision. That’s where the FCA expected most of the benefit to sit, and it overlaps with the guided retirement duty in the Pension Schemes Act 2026, under which schemes will have to offer default retirement income solutions; the DWP’s July 2026 roadmap now puts that duty in place for master trusts from 2029.

Where Advice Still Fits

Targeted support doesn’t close the advice gap on its own. The FCA’s Financial Lives survey found 8.6% of adults had received regulated advice in the year to May 2024, and many of the decisions that matter most at retirement, such as consolidation, tax planning and income strategy for larger pots, are outside what targeted support can do. The FCA is also consulting, in CP26/10, on simplifying the advice rules themselves, with final rules expected in the fourth quarter of 2026; the proposals would merge the COBS 9 and 9A suitability rules and replace annual reviews with periodic suitability assessments.

Two existing tools remain underused. The Pension Advice Allowance lets members take up to £500 tax-free from a DC pot to pay for regulated advice, once a tax year and up to three times in total; provider support is patchy. In Benefits Guru’s 2022 research only seven propositions from four providers said they could facilitate it, and few providers refer to it in their public member material today. Separately, employers can provide up to £500 a year of pensions advice per employee without a tax charge under section 308C of ITEPA 2003. Pension Wise, now part of MoneyHelper, continues to offer free guidance to over 50s, with more than 118,000 appointments delivered in 2023/24, the latest year for which figures were available, and FCA-regulated providers have had to nudge members towards it since June 2022.

What It Means for Advisers

For employer clients, the practical step is to find out what support the scheme’s provider now offers, or plans to offer, and how members will receive it. Ask which use cases are live, how members are selected, how charges work and how outcomes are monitored. Then map the gaps: which decisions still need regulated advice, and whether the employer could fund it through the section 308C exemption, or point members to a provider that offers the Pension Advice Allowance. Remember too that targeted support is a regulated activity in its own right, so a provider that hasn’t been authorised can’t offer it, however its member communications are labelled. Targeted support is a welcome extra layer, but it works best for employers as part of a clear path from guidance to advice, not as a substitute for one.

Things to reflect on for CPD

  • Which of your employer clients’ providers have been authorised for targeted support, and which use cases will reach their members first?
  • How would you explain to an employer the difference between targeted support and a personal recommendation, including what targeted support cannot cover?
  • Do any of your clients’ schemes offer the Pension Advice Allowance, and would the section 308C exemption suit any of your employers?
  • How would you approach member support for a trust-based scheme where the trustees are not FCA-authorised?