Manneken pis on EU parade

So David Cameron’s aim of successfully showing his party and voters that he can win in Europe is like climbing Mont Blanc without ropes. If Steve Webb can help engineer an alliance of enough European countries to block the IORP directive he will be a folk hero in the coalition government.

Pensions liberation is as old as the hills, but the current campaign from the Pensions Regulator, with its scorpion logo, is the first high profile PR campaign against it. It is welcome, but it is a shame it has taken so long. The activities of pension-busting operations have been covered in the media for more than 10 years, and Pensions Week has received regular reports of bogus operations at home and abroad. When reporting on a dodgy QROPS based in Prague two years ago, the lack of interest we got from pointing it out to HM Revenue & Customs was marked and disappointing. An independent trustee, who is often asked to sign off on these deals, told me of his frustration at the apparent lack of priority given to closing down rogue operations based abroad too. I have heard the frustration that different government departments, including HMRC, could have coordinated better to close down these scams.

Another anomaly is pointed out by Anne-Marie Winton, a lawyer with Nabarro. Members have to take financial advice before taking an enhanced transfer, but they are not obliged to have advice for a wholesale transfer to another scheme. Possibly this will be the next step taken by the FSA and the regulator to close down this dangerous practice for good.