What is the Minister doing to protect those who have been targeted by fraudulent pension advisors following the closure of the British Steel Pension Scheme?
The Welsh Government recognises the significant harm caused to former British Steel Pension Service members who lost out financially due to being mis-advised on the options for their defined benefit pensions.
The rules for how financial advisers are paid for providing pension transfer advice changed in 2020. Financial advisers are no longer incentivised to recommend a transfer out of a defined benefit scheme. This will prevent any future examples of the mis-advice occurring on the scale of that received by former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme.
The Welsh Government supports the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) redress scheme that aims to ensure people are fully compensated for the money they lost due to being mis-advised. Under the redress scheme former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme are eligible to a level of compensation that puts them back into the financial position they would have been in had they not been wrongly advised to transfer out of a defined benefit pension scheme.
The FCA redress calculations webpage contains information on how the scheme works. Alternatively, former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme can have all their questions answered by contacting the dedicated FCA British Steel Pension Service helpline on 0800 098 4100.
If the firm or individual that provided advice to a former British Steel Pension Service member has gone out of business, they can request the Financial Services Compensation Scheme | FSCS to review the advice they received.
Finally, whilst the former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme are free to choose how they use any compensation payment received, I strongly advise they contact the Money and Pensions Service MoneyHelper website where they will get free and impartial pension guidance.