The number of people who are actively looking for advice after visiting the Money Advice Service's (MAS) retirement adviser directory has doubled since November, latest figures show.
About 20,500 people have "clicked on an adviser's details" since the launch of the tool in April, most of which did so in the last three months, the MAS said.
The figure compared to the service's previous record of about 9,200 click-throughs between April and October.
The adviser directory was set up to support consumers looking for advice on their retirement following the government's pension freedom reforms and now features about 6,200 advisers from 3,400 firms.
Pension freedom gave everyone saving in a defined contribution pension unfettered access to their savings from age 55.
The MAS said more than 54,800 unique users have used the tool since its launch - up from 37,000 recorded three months ago.
It plans to add more information on adviser charges, allowing people to make comparisons, as the next part of its development, it said.
Chief executive Caroline Rookes said: "We are very pleased with the success of the adviser directory. Over 50,000 people have used it and over 6,000 advisers are now on it and we know that a number of the people going through to advisers are people that probably wouldn't have sought advice otherwise."
Increased demand
The MAS has also seen increased demand for its guidance services, with 33,000 unique users seeking help via its retirement income options tool; 122,000 people having used the annuity comparison table and 344,000 havings used its pension calculator.
About 4.4 million people accessed the MAS' website in the quarter from October to December - up 30% on the same period last year and helping create a record figure of 12.8 million in the year to date.
Overall, about 6 million consumers contacted the MAS via its combined web, telephone and face to face services in the past three months, up 32% on Q3 2014.
About 4.8 million took action as a result of the service bringing the year to date total to 11.6 million and beating the yearly target of 11.5 million.
The MAS claims it gave people the help they required 28% more times than in the same quarter last year - about 3.9 million times - despite a 2% decrease in the number of people confirming it had done so (85%).
Despite this slight fall in satisfaction the vast majority (91%) said they would revisit the service - slightly more than last year.
Strategy
The MAS was asked to change its business strategy in a Treasury-commissioned review last year.
The review demanded the MAS cut its budget and permanent staff by half and "embark on a programme of transformation" away from its focus on money guidance provision.
In its business plan for the coming year, released in December, the MAS proposed to cut its money budget by 12% and to move to being a ‘facilitator' of third party services.
It also said it wants to act as a better facilitator between consumers and advisers starting with a mapping ‘mapping exercise' to establish where and how people are currently getting financial help and assess where consumer needs are not being met.
Elsewhere, it launched a ten-year financial capability strategy last year, seeking to improve people's ability to manage their finances and educating them in the difference between financial advice and guidance and to make them understand when they need advice and how to get it.
