Ministers seem to be making a meal of the long-awaited ban on cold-calling retirement savers about their pensions.
After announcing a day on introducing the ban in Parliament, HM Revenue & Customs has launched yet another consultation about the rules.
The problem seems to be how to legislate the ban.
The power to adopt the rules was included in the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018, which gained Royal Assent on May 10, 2018.
A previous consultation looked at stretching the ban to cover emails and text messages concluded enough rules were already in place to protect consumers.
How the ban works
Now, ministers have decided the ban will only apply to unsolicited telephone calls about pensions.
The ban will cover:
- Offers of a free pension review or other free financial advice
- Analysis of an existing pension performance and charges
- The sale of offshore investments and retirement income products relating to pensions
- Offers for early access to pension funds
- Transferring cash between pensions or from pensions to bank accounts
The cold-calling regulations are expected before Parliament in the autumn, but will probably not pass into law before April 2019.
The ban relates to HMRC registered pension schemes, which include onshore pensions, such as SIPPs, personal pensions and workplace schemes.
As Qualifying recognised Overseas Pension Schemes are registered with HMRC, they are also subject to the ban.
Cold calling loophole
However, one loophole is the Information Commissioner cannot act against cold calls from offshore and will have to co-operate with overseas agencies to enforce the ban.
“This consultation sets out the policy behind the proposed ban and invites comments on the draft regulations to implement the ban. Since the government has already consulted on the policy, this is a technical consultation to seek final views on the draft regulations to ensure they meet policy objectives,” says the consultation.
“The government is committed to a ban on pensions cold calling. In a previous consultation, most respondents strongly supported the proposed interventions against pension scams.”
Commenting on the ban, Helen Morrissey, a pension specialist at Royal London said:“With every day that passes more people are being targeted by scammers and we need to get this ban in place as soon as possible.”
The consultation is open until August 17, 2018.
