An unnamed external research agency was due to begin surveying 30 IFA clients last Thursday, but some advisers complained that they were not told in enough time to contact their clients and let them decide whether or not to take part.

One adviser told the Financial Times he received a letter just two days before the opt-out deadline, saying that his clients would be contacted to take part in hour-long telephone interviews.

As a result of such reactions from IFAs, Standard Life pushed back the research. Fieldwork is now set to begin today.

A Standard Life spokesman told Research: “Based on the feedback we’ve received from the adviser community, we’ve made the decision to delay the deadline for IFAs opting their clients out of our market research until Monday 5th September.

“The market research is a process we do several times a year and both advisers and clients are questioned. We always offer the adviser the opportunity to remove their client from the research and we will continue to take this approach.”