Responses to Work and Pensions Committee report on protecting pension savers

On 28 March 2021, the Work and Pensions Committee published its Fifth Report of Session 2019–21, Protecting pension savers–five years on from the pension freedoms: Pension scams.

The Government, the FCA and the Pensions Regulator have this week each provided their responses to this report.

The Government rejects the Committee’s recommendation that the forthcoming Online Safety Bill should tackle fraud facilitated through paid-for advertising, such as adverts for pension products on search engines. There will instead be a consultation on online advertising regulation later in the year.

The Government’s stance is in direct contrast to that of the FCA, which has warned that online advertising is ‘the major source of problems leading to very significant consumer harms’ and backs calls for financial harms to be included in the Online Safety Bill.