Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Not Addressed
Pension firms can and should report suspect scams directly to Action Fraud.
Recommendation
Pension firms can and should report suspect scams directly to Action Fraud. But we heard extensive evidence from the pensions industry that they are not sure where or how to report pension scams or suspected scams and that they are in fact sometimes discouraged from doing so. Action Fraud’s own website creates a confusing impression that it is intended only for use by scam victims. We recommend that Action Fraud should make it clear that the industry should make reports of scam activity to Action Fraud and should provide clear guidance and an effective tool for the industry to do so. The member organisations of Project Bloom should ensure that they provide clear guidance to the industry about how to report suspected scam activity. (Paragraph 42) 58 Protecting pension savers—five years on from the pension freedomss Pension scams
Government response summary AI-generated
The government response confirms that Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) services, including Pension Wise, are available to expatriates and encourages them to use these resources. It does not address the recommendation for Action Fraud and Project Bloom to provide clear guidance and tools for the pensions industry to report suspected scam activity.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Government continues to stress the importance of reporting instances of fraud to Action Fraud, both to support police investigations as well as allowing the development of a stronger intelligence picture across a range of threats. Action Fraud also makes their role as the national reporting service clear and receives a large number of reports each year related to pension scams, both from individuals and from industry. In 2020, there were 637 reports of pension scams, of which 545 were passed out to UK law enforcement.1 The Government will continue, alongside Action Fraud, to communicate the importance of reporting all instances of fraud to the service to the public and industry. To ease this process, there is already a dedicated contact number as well as online reporting tool and associated guidance covering how to report instances of fraud, including pension scams. Furthermore, Action Fraud works hard to proactively protect the public from pension fraud, including through communicating key warning signs to be aware of, and important steps for consumers to take to protect themselves. Recent pensions-related advice includes crosschecking the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Register to ensure the advice or other financial services provided are FCA authorised, as well as reporting pensions cold calling to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Work is in progress to make it clear that industry as well as individuals should report to Action Fraud. City of London Police has appointed an industry liaison officer, and is working with The Pensions Regulator, the PSIG, and the National Economic Crime Centre on industry communications, including a webinar for pension scheme providers to clarify reporting process they should be following.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗