On the go: Pensions cold-calling will finally be banned from January, after a string of delays in legislating against what has been a scourge of UK savers.
Cold-calling of the public on any area of pensions, and the sending of unsolicited text and emails, will be against the law from January 9 2019.
John Glen, economic secretary to the Treasury, said on Twitter yesterday: “Pensions cold calling is a scourge, so I was pleased and proud to see Parliament pass a ban on it this week. This means the ban will officially come into force on 9th January. Spread the word.”
Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, added: “It has taken far too long to get to this point, but at least the cold-calling ban is finally in sight. While the ban will not prevent cold-calling, especially from outside the UK, consumers will now know that anyone calling them out of the blue is breaking the law and is simply not to be trusted. Regulators now need to make sure that the same protections apply to social media and all forms of unsolicited communications.”
Citizens Advice has calculated that 10.9 million consumers have received unsolicited contact about their pension.
It has been a long road since Derbyshire-based financial adviser Darren Cooke of Red Circle Planning, launched a petition to ban cold calling in September 2016 to protect pension savers from the threat of unscrupulous pension scammers.
