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1168779

registered interest
date	20/12/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the take-up of pension credit.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	316
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/01/2020 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions publishes an annual report detailing latest available statistics regarding the estimated take-up of Pension Credit and other income-related benefits.</p><p> </p><p>The latest version can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next report containing 2017/18 data is currently due to be published around January – February 2020.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 07/01/2020 14:28:31 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1237537

registered interest
date	24/09/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have (a) accessed and (b) transferred their pension early since the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak which is then potentially classified as an unauthorised payment from their pension fund.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	95085
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/09/2020 answer text <p>This government is committed to safeguarding consumer savings. We have introduced, with other departments, measures that assist all savers to understand their choices and the possible risks of the choices they make along with legislation to protect those most vulnerable to scams.</p><p> </p><p>There is currently no information available about pension unauthorised payments since the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak. This is because administrators of a registered pension scheme must tell HMRC when certain reportable events occur; reportable events include unauthorised payments. The scheme administrator does this by completing and submitting an Event Report for a tax year, these must be received by HMRC by the 31<sup>st</sup> of January after the end of the tax year to which the Event Report relates. Therefore, reports for the period March to date are not available.</p><p> </p><p>The data available from the industry has so far revealed little evidence of an increase in transfers or scams since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak. Similarly, independent regulators report less of a problem. We will continue to monitor and assess if there has been any increase in pension scams activity as a result of the crisis.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 29/09/2020 15:23:03 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1237538

registered interest
date	24/09/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Wise: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have booked a Pension Wise guidance session since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	95086
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/09/2020 answer text <p>Between 1 March 2020 and 24 September 2020, the number of Pension Wise guidance sessions booked totalled 69,815.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 29/09/2020 16:06:14 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1237539

registered interest
date	24/09/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is planning to take to increase public awareness of the risks of pension scams.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	95087
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/09/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to safeguarding consumer savings. The Government is raising public awareness of scams through ongoing communications directly from DWP and with other organisations.</p><p> </p><p>Joint and independent communications from the FCA and tPR spelling out the dangers, what to watch out for and giving clarity to trustees and providers on the boundaries between guidance and advice have been issued since April this year (<a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a>). Prior to Covid-19 the FCA and tPR conducted regular campaigns, through the ScamSmart branding, to raise awareness of pension scams and what to watch out for, these have been deemed very successful, over 222,000 visited the ScamSmart website to find out how to identify a scam scheme as a result of the most recent pre Covid campaign, July – November 2019.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, Government is actively monitoring the numbers of transfers and scams and preparing further policy responses. At the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, the Department convened a cross-government and regulator group to closely monitor and respond to any increase in transfers and scams. The group includes DWP, HMT, both the Pensions Regulator and the FCA as well as the Money and Pensions Service and the Pension Ombudsman. All of the participating organisations have confirmed that to date no evidence has emerged of an increase in either transfers or scams, based on their internal monitoring of the industry.</p><p> </p><p>DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media to set out the warning signs of a scam and has made multiple posts referencing Pension Scams and #ScamSmart in total across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in the period March to September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The Pension Schemes Bill was amended by Government in the House of Lords to add to the example conditions that can be placed on the statutory right to transfer by regulations. This amendment makes it explicit that the regulations can require that in certain circumstances the member demonstrates they have taken information or guidance before the transfer can proceed to ensure they are informed of the risks.</p><p> </p><p>The Government wants to support all pension savers aged 50 and over in the lead up to accessing their pension savings, to make informed choices about their retirement income, which includes making them aware of Pension Wise through communications from their pension scheme trustees. We intend introducing Single page summary and single page risk warnings from age 50 and then every 5 years until the point they access their pension savings.</p><p> </p><p>The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) conducted trials to establish different ways to encourage more people to take Pension Wise guidance before accessing their pension savings under Pension Freedoms. These trials found that a nudge developed using behavioural science principles significantly increased take-up of Pension Wise guidance among those wishing to access their pension savings under pension freedoms. The evaluation report was published in July 2020. We are working to develop the most effective and proportionate way to implement this nudge to pension guidance. We intend to publish our proposed way forward shortly.</p><p>In addition we have banned cold calling and seek to provide and prosecute and publicise the convinction of all who comitt pension scams.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 29/09/2020 15:36:14 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1237540

registered interest
date	24/09/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of implementing a training programme for pension and finance professionals to help ensure they can readily identify scam risks.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	95088
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/09/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to safeguarding consumer savings. The Government is raising public awareness of scams through ongoing communications directly from DWP and with other organisations.</p><p> </p><p>Joint and independent communications from the FCA and tPR spelling out the dangers, what to watch out for and giving clarity to trustees and providers on the boundaries between guidance and advice have been issued since April this year. Prior to Covid-19 the FCA and tPR conducted regular campaigns, through the ScamSmart branding, to raise awareness of pension scams and what to watch out for, these have been deemed very successful, over 222,000 visited the ScamSmart website to find out how to identify a scam scheme as a result of the most recent pre Covid campaign, July – November 2019.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, Government is actively monitoring the numbers of transfers and scams and preparing further policy responses. At the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, the Department convened a cross-government and regulator group to closely monitor and respond to any increase in transfers and scams. The group includes DWP, HMT, both the Pensions Regulator and the FCA as well as the Money and Pensions Service and the Pension Ombudsman. All of the participating organisations have confirmed that to date no evidence has emerged of an increase in either transfers or scams, based on their internal monitoring of the industry.</p><p> </p><p>Please see links below for more information about the joint statement from Regulators and the Money Advice Service, and help available, produced by the Pension Protection Fund and supported by government.</p><p><a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a></p><p><a href="https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf</a></p><p>DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media to set out the warning signs of a scam and has made 18 posts referencing Pension Scams and #ScamSmart in total across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in the period March to September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The Pension Schemes Bill was amended in the House of Lords to add to the example conditions that can be placed on the statutory right to transfer by regulations. This amendment makes it explicit that the regulations can require that in certain circumstances the member demonstrates they have taken information or guidance before the transfer can proceed to ensure they are informed of the risks.</p><p> </p><p>The Government wants to support all pension savers aged 50 and over in the lead up to accessing their pension savings, to make informed choices about their retirement income, which includes making them aware of Pension Wise through communications from their pension scheme trustees. We intend introducing Single page summary and single page risk warnings from age 50 and then every 5 years until the point they access their pension savings.</p><p> </p><p>The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) conducted trials to establish different ways to encourage more people to take Pension Wise guidance before accessing their pension savings under Pension Freedoms. These trials found that a nudge developed using behavioural science principles significantly increased take-up of Pension Wise guidance among those wishing to access their pension savings under pension freedoms. The evaluation report was published in July 2020. We are working to develop the most effective and proportionate way to implement this nudge to pension guidance. We intend to publish our proposed way forward shortly.</p><p> </p><p>We will continue to work collaboratively with organisations and regulators to look at all interventions which can better protect savers.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 29/09/2020 15:51:17 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1237541

registered interest
date	24/09/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will provide a breakdown of the types of pension scams that have occurred since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	95089
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/10/2020 answer text <p>DWP is working across government and with regulators to monitor and respond to any increases in transfers or pension scams. To date, this monitoring has revealed little evidence to demonstrate an increase in either transfers or scams across the industry as a whole as confirmed by the independent regulator. This has been confirmed by responses from industry. The Government will continue to monitor and respond to any emerging evidence.</p><p> </p><p>The Government established Project Bloom, a cross-government taskforce that brings together law enforcement, government and industry to share intelligence, raise awareness of and the reporting of scams through public communication campaigns, and take enforcement action where appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>Please see links below for more information about the joint statement from Regulators and the Money Advice Service, and help available, produced by the Pension Protection Fund and supported by government.</p><p><a href="https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a></p><p><a href="https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to work with Regulators and enforcement agencies to prevent scams and take appropriate action. In the period March - July 2020, 116 reports of possible pension fraud were received by Action Fraud, compared to 179 for the same period in 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Project Bloom has identified that the methodology of scammers is continually evolving, moving away from the traditional type of theft of peoples pensions through setting up a sham scheme, towards investment related fraud. Investment related fraud includes persuading individuals to invest in ventures that do not exist or using multiple charging structures that the member is not aware of.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/10/2020 13:56:13 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1237549

registered interest
date	24/09/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department has had with (a) regulators, (b) pension providers and (c) HMRC on taking steps to encourage pension scam victims to report those scams.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	95095
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/10/2020 answer text <p>DWP works with other government departments, regulators, police, enforcement agencies and the pensions industry to raise public awareness of pension scams and encourage the reporting of scams by victims. The Government established Project Bloom, a cross-government taskforce that brings together law enforcement, government and industry to share intelligence, raise awareness of and the reporting of scams through public communication campaigns, and take enforcement action where appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>Project Bloom monitors the evolution of scam typology and the measures that all agencies including providers and financial professionals can take to help prevent scams.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to drive forward and endorse better messaging from both TPR and FCA to the public and industry on how to identify a scam. Government helped facilitate and supported the joint statement by regulators at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, urging individuals not to make hasty pension decisions.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/media-hub/press-releases/2020-press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-and-dont-rush-financial-decisions" target="_blank">https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/media-hub/press-releases/2020-press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-and-dont-rush-financial-decisions</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also using social media to further endorse the messaging from the regulators, with posts referencing Pension Scams and #ScamSmart in total across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in the period March to September 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The ScamSmart campaign and website have been live since 2014. It started by focusing on just Investment Scams and has grown to incorporate Pension Scams. The aim of all the activity under the ScamSmart brand is to alert consumers to the warning signs that indicate a possible scam is taking place and to drive action, getting consumers to use the FCA Warning List tool and the Register. The national media campaign which ran from July to November 2019 resulted in excess of 220,000 people visiting the website.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/10/2020 13:49:26 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1244484

registered interest
date	19/10/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Warm Home Discount Scheme: Pensioners
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her statement HCWS512 made on 14 October 2020, by what means her Department identified (a) the one million claimants to receive the warm home discount automatically and (b) the further 220,000 pensioners who will receive a letter encouraging them to check their eligibility and apply for the warm home discount.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	105381
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>To receive the Warm Home Discount, Pension Credit customers must be in receipt of the Pension Credit Guarantee Credit element, be named on the account and their supplier must participate in the scheme.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>DWP matches Pension Credit data with data provided by energy suppliers participating in the Warm Home Discount Scheme in accordance with the scheme’s July qualifying date. Where a match is confirmed, a notification is issued by DWP to the energy supplier for the rebate to be applied automatically.</p><p> </p><p>In some instances, a match is not confirmed and for those Pension Credit customers a letter is sent asking them to contact the Freephone Warm Home Discount Scheme Helpline [0800 917 1003] to see if they qualify.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 105380 question first answered 22/10/2020 12:17:36 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1244487

registered interest
date	19/10/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of low pension credit uptake on (a) pensioner poverty and (b) fuel poverty.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	105383
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>No assessments have been made.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 22/10/2020 16:01:13 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1244548

registered interest
date	19/10/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Warm Home Discount Scheme: Pensioners
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her statement made on 14 October 2020, Official Report, HCWS512, whether all existing pension credit claimants will receive the warm home discount automatically.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	105380
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>To receive the Warm Home Discount, Pension Credit customers must be in receipt of the Pension Credit Guarantee Credit element, be named on the account and their supplier must participate in the scheme.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>DWP matches Pension Credit data with data provided by energy suppliers participating in the Warm Home Discount Scheme in accordance with the scheme’s July qualifying date. Where a match is confirmed, a notification is issued by DWP to the energy supplier for the rebate to be applied automatically.</p><p> </p><p>In some instances, a match is not confirmed and for those Pension Credit customers a letter is sent asking them to contact the Freephone Warm Home Discount Scheme Helpline [0800 917 1003] to see if they qualify.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 105381 question first answered 22/10/2020 12:17:36 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray