This week is Pensions Awareness Week. There are many and varied rules surrounding the pensions industry, implications for tax if you choose to make money out of pension at certain times, and an unsavoury number of scammers preying on those who are confused about their rights and needs for retirement. Sadly, any Member of Parliament's case work will include constituents who have received poor pension advice or fallen victim to fraudsters and scammers.
Fortunately there are a number of excellent organisations which can help with advice, guidance and regulation. Those listed below are all helpful bodies, especially MaPS for basic advice.
MaPS: The Money and Pensions Service is an arms-length body that exists to help people make the most of their money and pensions, particularly those most in need and those most vulnerable to financial insecurity. MaPS delivers free and impartial money and pensions guidance to people across the UK through the consumer-facing service, MoneyHelper
PLSA: The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association represents pension schemes that together provide a retirement income to more than 30 million savers in the UK and invest more than £1.3 trillion in the UK and abroad. We aim to help everyone achieve a better income in retirement.
TPO: The Pensions Ombudsman deals with complaints or disputes about workplace or personal pension schemes. We look at the facts without taking sides, and customers do not need to pay to use our service. We can also help if your constituent has a complaint about a decision made by the Pension Protection Fund or the Financial Assistance Scheme.
TPR: The Pensions Regulator protects the UK’s workplace pensions. We make sure employers, trustees, pension specialists and business advisers can fulfil their duties to scheme members.
PPF: The Pension Protection Fund protects members of eligible defined benefit pension schemes in the event of employer insolvency. We also manage the Financial Assistance Scheme and Fraud Compensation Fund.
