Yes a pension is tax efficient and you get tax relief at your marginal rate
https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-priva...ion-tax-relief
Your IFA doesn’t work for nothing and as well as his charges there will probably be others (fund, platform).
You can set up a pension yourself but it sounds as though you need some help. Only you can judge if £780 is good value as it won’t just be for setting up a pension but assessing your attitude to risk, recommending investments etc etc