I recently wrote about the Money Advice Service (MAS) and apologised for the cringe making series of adverts they were running – ‘What does Ma think?’
My argument is that this service does not provide advice it provides information and guidance.
And whilst MAS was set up by Government it is not paid for by the taxpayer, it is funded by levies on financial firms.
On 12th September the Financial Services Authority (FSA) direct debited our company bank account for £1,039.77 to help fund MAS. I am angry about this because I have no say about paying this levy and I believe it to be a complete waste of money.
Today I had the opportunity to express my anger on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours programme. You can listen again to the segment here.
Nothing I heard today from Mark Fiander, with the typically convoluted title of Director of Strategy & Innovation, who also spoke has convinced me that MAS is anything other than a complete waste of time and money.
Take for example MAS claiming that they are acting as a hub for 300 other information and guidance services.
Really? Do we need to spend £46.3m on a hub? Is it being produced by the same people who tried to create the NHS computer system?
And the example of good work done by MAS helping a single mother in South Wales work out that she could save £100 per month, wow!
With budget of £46.3 million, MAS could give £100 per month to 38,583 single mothers and do far, far more good than they currently do!
The Your and Yours presenter, Peter White asked me if I was ‘angry simply because MAS was competing with services for which we charge?’
Of course MAS is not competing with what we do, but had I thought more quickly I would have said I was doubly angry if that was the case. In what sane world would we want to pay to fund our competitors?
My claim that MAS does not offer advice was refuted by Mark Fiander. Apparently the Advertising Standards Authority have agreed that they can use the word advice.
Fine, but interestingly MAS does not offer the user the services of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), does not contribute to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and does not as far as I know have to pay for Professional Indemnity Insurance.
So if you take advice from Ma don’t expect any protection if it goes wrong.
No, in the real world in which we live there is a huge gulf between the ‘me too’ ineffective MAS offering and true independent and impartial advice.
To paraphrase the £19m ego trip advertising spend to raise name awareness of MAS (yes, truly £19m, whatever happened to the age of austerity?!) – the consumer doesn’t want to “know what Ma thinks” they want expert and proper independent advice.
What practical solution can I offer to improve the Money Advice Service? Close it down on Monday; we simply do not need this useless Quango paid for by our clients fees.
Photo credit: Flickr/sherrell
