Jail threat for ra ids on pension pots
Minister unveils Bill’s new measures
FINANCE: Prison for “pension pot pinchers” will deter reckless bosses from running schemes into the ground, Therese Coffey has said.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told the Commons that the Government will establish pension dashboards and “tackle those who try to plunder pension pots.”
PRISON FOR “pension pot pinchers” will deter reckless bosses from running schemes into the ground, Therese Coffey has said.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told the Commons that the Government will establish pension dashboards and “tackle those who try to plunder the pension pots of hard- working employees”.
Speaking as MPs debated the Pension Schemes Bill which aims to establish a new form of pension scheme, Ms Coffey added that the new legislation “strengthens protections for savers by extending the pension regulator’s sanctions regime”.
Her comments came as the Labour chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Stephen Timms called for further protections to ensure that trustees of schemes do not have to process transfers when they know the money is going to a firm listed on the Financial Conduct Authority’s warning list.
Introducing the second reading of the Pensions Schemes Bill, Ms Coffey told MPs: “This Bill delivers on our manifesto commitments to legislate for a new style of pensions scheme, establish pensions dashboards and tackle those who try to plunder the pension pots of hard- working employees.
“It creates a new style of pension scheme that has the potential
to increase future returns for millions of working people while being more sustainable for employees and employers alike.
“The Bill has consumer interests at its heart. It strengthens protections for savers by extending the pension regulator’s sanctions regime.
“Prison for pension pot pinchers will, I hope, deter reckless bosses from running schemes into the ground.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Bill makes “solid steps” towards allowing savers to be more in control of their assets, but admitted that the legislation “doesn’t give us everything that we want”.
Labour’s Mr Timms outlined his proposals for how the Bill could go further to suppress the rising number of “devastating” pension scams.
He told MPs: “The proposal that I want to table is that trustees should be able to refuse to make the transfer altogether if one of the major red flags is raised.
“And my view, and I think others I know will be supporting this amendment as well, is that the statutory right to transfer conveyed in the pensions freedom legislation should not apply in such a case.
“We’ve heard this morning from scheme trustees not only that they have an obligation to transfer even if they know perfectly well that the destination is a scam, but also, if they don’t do it quickly enough, they will be fined for not getting a move on under the current arrangements which are in place.” He said it is very hard to argue that the statutory right of transfer should apply in a case where the destination is a firm which is listed on the warning list.
The Bill has consumer interests at its heart. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey.