The number of Fidelity’s customers using Pension Wise before contacting the company has risen to 20%.
Data showing the habits of clients three months into the reforms taking effect showed the proportion who have been first speaking to the Government’s free service had shot up from 10% over the first two months.

Fidelity Worldwide Investment said this “suggested that people now seem to be taking a more considered approach following the initial demand from customers keen to get their hands on cash.”

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Advertising restrictions during Purdah while the general election campaign took place may also have had a knock on effect, it added.

The business said that its data suggested people have been prepared to move to access the freedoms in full.

A “significant number of calls” have come from people seeking to transfer their funds as their ceding company does not offer the full freedoms, it said.

One in 10 of other calls came from people who wanted to explore their options due to other barriers being put in their path.

Anecdotal evidence from the firm’s telephony teams showed a steady number of calls from people who have found themselves or their partners in ill health and wanted to access their pots as a result.

A few customers wanted to use monies to pay for a child’s wedding with one man keen to get into property development, the company reported, while people who are choosing to take tax free cash are doing so for a multitude of reasons.

These primarily consisted of tax free cash to pay off debts, mortgages, put money into ISAs, buy kitchens or to buy property for the kids or as their own rental.

Richard Parkin, head of retirement at Fidelity Worldwide Investment said: “We are just over 3 months in to the new freedoms and we are seeing changes in customer behaviour.

“Not being able to access the full freedoms has been a key theme in the media and it would appear that retirees are not just settling for whatever they are offered by their providers.

“It’s clear that consumers are impacted by the news agenda. When selling annuities were initially announced, we saw a mini peak in interest which had fallen off four weeks later when it was no longer front and centre. There’s also been a lot of focus on DB transfers and we have seen a significant increase in customers wanting to explore these.”