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Industry principles for designing the Mid-life MOT

  • The MOT should be viewed as age-relevant guidance, rather than a one-off event.

  • The MOT should be provided by animpartial organisation but may be facilitated by providers or employers.

  • The MOT should be integrated into the retirement customer journey so that customers can be seamlessly signposted or transferred to organisations or individuals who can provide additional support and expertise that cannot be provided as part of the MOT/review.

  • The MOT should be available across all possible channels to suit the diverse needs and capabilities of individuals.

  • Depending on who the MOT is delivered by, consideration should be given to how self-employed individuals and those employed by SMEs could be offered an appointment, and the trigger for this cohort in finding out about its availability.

  • The scope of the guidance or information that is provided during the MOT on pension issues should depend on the individual’s needs but should potentially be as broad as that which is currently offered by the Pensions Advisory Service (and later the new single financial guidance body (SFGB)) – or simply signposted immediately to the new SFGB.

  • Any guidance or information that is given during the MOT on pension issues should be integrated with pensions dashboards once they are operational, so that an individual can have an informed discussion about their options.

  • Once operational, retirement communications should inform qualifying customers that they are now or soon to be eligible for a Mid-life MOT and should provide information on how they might access a session.

  • The MOT should be used as a mechanism to signpost customers to and promote the availability and benefits of Pension Wise/the new single financial guidance body.

  • When considering the marketing of the proposal ahead of its launch, thought should be given to the appropriateness of the phrase “MOT” and negative connotations it could portray around passing or failing.