As many as 21.5 million people in the UK could benefit from Royal London’s targeted support service, the firm has stated.

The mutual said the figure highlights the "significant challenge and opportunity" faced by the financial services industry in providing accessible support to help people with their finances.

Royal London’s latest research showed that when people receive financial advice, they view it as providing good or excellent value for money.

However, only 9% of individuals currently pay for full regulated financial advice, which means the majority of adults are navigating complex financial decisions alone.

The firm said the introduction of the free targeted support service represents a "promising avenue" to address this gap, enabling broader access to a new form of financial help and empowering people to make well-informed financial decisions.

Royal London added that the FCA’s trial of target support demonstrated that it helps customers feel more confident when making financial decisions.

Chief executive officer for advice at Royal London, Ben Hampton, described the targeted support programme as a "once in a generation opportunity" to reshape how people access financial help.

He added: "Today, consumers looking for help face a tough choice of whether to pay for advice or not. Targeted support is the missing link to create a sliding scale of help. It creates a seamless, ongoing range of support so customers can access different levels of decision-making help, depending on their needs.

"Financial vulnerability is rising, financial decisions have become much more complex, and consumer expectations for personalised, proactive support are increasing. We are defining and shaping how targeted support builds our customers’ financial resilience."

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