The Government has missed a chance to crack down on pensions fraud through SSAS, a technical expert says.

The Government last week revealed plans to provide “better protections” for savers in master trusts – the multi-employer schemes looking after the savings of millions of people as a result of automatic enrolment. These measures were announced in the Queen's Speech.

However, the summary of what will be included in the Bill makes no mention of Small Self-Administered Schemes, which are often abused by pension scammers.

AJ Bell head of technical resources Gareth James explained that scammers can use SSAS-like pension schemes as a vehicle for fraud. His firm has seen a 140% increase in the volume of transfer requests to SSASs that have raised a red flag in its due diligence process.

Prior to 2006 all SSASs had to have a professional trustee, referred to as a ‘pensioner trustee’. They were independent and recognised by HMRC as having the knowledge required to run SSASs, Mr James explained.

He said: “It would be bizarre for the Government to legislate based on the fear master trusts could be used by scammers, without doing the same for SSASs when they already are being used by scammers.

“SSASs remain a valuable type of pension scheme but for a number of years pension fraudsters have been setting them up to scam savers. Until policymakers and regulators get a grip on this market, vulnerable savers will continue to be robbed of their life savings by opportunistic scammers.

“The Government should reintroduce the requirement for all SSASs to have an independent trustee looking out for the welfare of scheme members. This would be a kick in the teeth to pension fraudsters and introduce a valuable extra line of defence in the war against scammers.

"In addition, it would be a missed opportunity not to use the Pensions Bill to strengthen the laws governing pension transfers so schemes have the power to resist them where there is a clear risk of harm to the saver."