Protecting consumers from unscrupulous scammers and conmen has been a priority for the financial services industry for some time.

Having been away for a holiday for a week or so, I was really pleased to return home to see that this has come a step closer with a ban on pensions cold-calling awaiting Royal Assent as part of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill. Members of the House of Commons also discussed the referral of pension scheme members to appropriate guidance and legal charges for PPI claimants.

A new clause in the Bill provides the Work and Pensions Secretary with the powers to make regulations to ban unsolicited direct marketing relating to pensions, with provisions that this can be extended to other financial products. The additional clauses that were added to the Bill are likely to be in place by the summer and were added without any opposition from MPs.

For once, we look like we making far greater steps than have been attempted before. One issue that the industry has, is that the conmen are always one step ahead due to the time it takes to make regulatory changes in the UK, by the time we have tackled one area, they have already moved on.

A clear example of this is the SIPP and SSAS sector. Both have been tarnished by consumer groups and lobbyists as being ideal products for scammers and conmen to use. I would say this is unfair as pension freedoms have meant that members can now access their funds through their tax free cash or even the whole pot with the members paying income tax on the balance of their fund. They are then enticed into dubious investments directly, rather than through their pension scheme. This was clearly an unintended consequence of the introduction of the pension freedoms, but as I said the scammers always seem to be one step ahead.

There were suggestions from many MPs that they should go further but that will require additional consultation and consideration, which if it happened would potentially have caused further consumer detriment and can be addressed later on.

As both the House of Lords and House of Commons have agreed on the text of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill it now awaits Royal Assent when the Bill will become an Act of Parliament and therefore law. A date for Royal Assent is yet to be scheduled but likely to be during June and it can’t come soon enough.

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Elaine Turtle, director, DP Pensions