Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include tax exemptions relating to employee share schemes in the consultation on the Finance Bill 2021.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government offers four tax-advantaged employee share schemes: Share Incentive Plans (SIPs), the Save As You Earn (SAYE) scheme, Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), and the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP).
The schemes enable employers to share financial rewards with staff, with both receiving tax benefits. This is ultimately intended to support recruitment and retention and help encourage employee productivity.
There are no current plans to change these schemes at the 2021 Finance Bill. The Government keeps all of the employee share schemes under review.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will establish an inquiry into the HMRC's administration of tax exemptions relating to employee share schemes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government keeps all tax legislation under regular review and any changes are considered in line with its priorities. The Government does not plan to introduce legislation at this time to regulate the actions of trustees of employee share schemes.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on the potential merits of introducing legislation to resolve the dispute between HMRC and the trustee and beneficiaries of the Roadchef Employee Benefits Trust.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs and it would not be appropriate for Treasury ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.
The Chancellor has received representations from some Members of Parliament on introducing legislation to resolve the Roadchef dispute.
The Government keeps all tax legislation under regular review and any changes are considered in line with Government priorities.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to introduce legislative proposals to improve the regulation of the actions of trustees of employee share schemes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government keeps all tax legislation under regular review and any changes are considered in line with its priorities. The Government does not plan to introduce legislation at this time to regulate the actions of trustees of employee share schemes.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to introduce legislative proposals to protect potential beneficiaries of employee share schemes from that scheme being plundered by trustees.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government keeps all tax legislation under regular review and any changes are considered in line with its priorities. The Government does not plan to introduce legislation at this time to regulate the actions of trustees of employee share schemes.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that HMRC pursues pension scammers holding stolen funds.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Most pension avoidance scheme promoters do not break the tax rules. But where they do, HMRC will pursue them. HMRC is responsible for pension tax relief but not for the regulation of pension schemes. Regulation is the responsibility of the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority. HMRC works with other regulators and law enforcement agencies, through Project Bloom, to ensure a co-ordinated and joined up approach is taken to tackle pension avoidance schemes.Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax rule breaches resulting from pension scams have been identified by HMRC in each of the last five years.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HMRC deals with tackling tax avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance.
HMRC is responsible for pension tax relief but not for the regulation of pension schemes. Regulation is the responsibility of the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Since 2015 individuals over 55 have been able to legally withdraw amounts from their pension pots, pay tax on the amounts withdrawn and invest the amounts however they wish. However, as the amounts withdrawn and the investment occurs outside of the pensions tax wrapper, this does not give rise to tax breaches, provided the relevant tax charges are paid.
Pension investment frauds are arguably a subset of investment frauds. Serious or complex fraud is a criminal offence and is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), also has as one of its statutory objectives the reduction of financial crime, which includes fraud.
HMRC empathises with anyone who believes that they may have been misled about their pension investments. We will continue working closely with the Pensions Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority to tackle pension avoidance schemes.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the equality impact assessments conducted by or on behalf of her Department before the reimposition of universal credit conditionality and sanctioning in July 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No – and there are no plans to publish the Equality Impact assessment as it is a return to existing legislation.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to protect consumers from proceeding with fraudulent online pension transfers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government is committed to safeguarding the savings of consumers based in the UK and people living overseas with UK based savings. Although the majority of transfers are to safe destinations there are still fraudsters who try to entice individuals to transfer to schemes for the purposes of relieving them of their pension savings.
To help protect people from pension scams, clause 125 in the Pensions Schemes Bill 2020 will allow government to introduce measures to limit the statutory right to transfer. The clause achieves many things and reference is made to all the parliamentary responses on this topic for the details. However, in summary:
Regulators and trustees also have a broader role to play in scam prevention. The Pension Regulator, Financial Conduct Authority, and Money Advice and Pension Service issued information on 7 April pointing to the actions members should seek to take to safeguard against becoming victims of scams. Additional guidance was issued to trustees, and providers from both The Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator to support them to produce suitable communications during the Covid-19 outbreak.
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.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions
https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf
In addition, the Government, working with the regulators and the Money and Pension Service, has been communicating with pension savers to alert them to the risk of scams in the current climate. DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media about the warning signs of a scam.
We have adopted an approach that not only safeguards against pension scams but assists all pension savers seeking to access their pensions.
For all pension savers aged 50 and over, in the lead up to accessing their pension savings, our aim is to support them make informed choices about their retirement income. We are therefore committed to replicating measures introduced by the FCA for contract based schemes for occupational pension schemes and requiring trustees to provide information to pensions savers from the age of 50, in a simpler format, to encourage savers to think about their retirement savings, choices and raise awareness of Pension Wise.
We want to encourage savers to take appropriate guidance via Pension Wise when they apply to access savings. We want to present taking guidance or advice as a natural part of the journey when individuals access their pension savings. We are working with the FCA on rules that would require managers of private pension schemes to Introduce parallel provisions.
The Government is committed to safeguarding consumer savings and continues to raise public awareness of scams through ongoing communications directly from DWP and with other organisations.
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.
In addition, Pensions Dashboards will help more people actively manage their pension savings and plan for their retirement, and this will include making decisions about pension consolidation, particularly for deferred defined contribution pots. Initial dashboards will enable a user to find and view their pension savings in one place. Future functionality will be informed by user research and testing, and consumer protection will be a primary concern in this decision making.
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what powers she will give to regulators and trustees to allow them to override the individual’s statutory right to transfer their pension in the event of a suspected scam.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government is committed to safeguarding the savings of consumers based in the UK and people living overseas with UK based savings. Although the majority of transfers are to safe destinations there are still fraudsters who try to entice individuals to transfer to schemes for the purposes of relieving them of their pension savings.
To help protect people from pension scams, clause 125 in the Pensions Schemes Bill 2020 will allow government to introduce measures to limit the statutory right to transfer. The clause achieves many things and reference is made to all the parliamentary responses on this topic for the details. However, in summary:
Regulators and trustees also have a broader role to play in scam prevention. The Pension Regulator, Financial Conduct Authority, and Money Advice and Pension Service issued information on 7 April pointing to the actions members should seek to take to safeguard against becoming victims of scams. Additional guidance was issued to trustees, and providers from both The Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator to support them to produce suitable communications during the Covid-19 outbreak.
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.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/covid-19-savers-stay-calm-dont-rush-financial-decisions
https://www.ppf.co.uk/sites/default/files/file-2020-05/COVID-19-and-your-pension.pdf
In addition, the Government, working with the regulators and the Money and Pension Service, has been communicating with pension savers to alert them to the risk of scams in the current climate. DWP continues to communicate regularly on social media about the warning signs of a scam.
We have adopted an approach that not only safeguards against pension scams but assists all pension savers seeking to access their pensions.
For all pension savers aged 50 and over, in the lead up to accessing their pension savings, our aim is to support them make informed choices about their retirement income. We are therefore committed to replicating measures introduced by the FCA for contract based schemes for occupational pension schemes and requiring trustees to provide information to pensions savers from the age of 50, in a simpler format, to encourage savers to think about their retirement savings, choices and raise awareness of Pension Wise.
We want to encourage savers to take appropriate guidance via Pension Wise when they apply to access savings. We want to present taking guidance or advice as a natural part of the journey when individuals access their pension savings. We are working with the FCA on rules that would require managers of private pension schemes to Introduce parallel provisions.
The Government is committed to safeguarding consumer savings and continues to raise public awareness of scams through ongoing communications directly from DWP and with other organisations.
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.
In addition, Pensions Dashboards will help more people actively manage their pension savings and plan for their retirement, and this will include making decisions about pension consolidation, particularly for deferred defined contribution pots. Initial dashboards will enable a user to find and view their pension savings in one place. Future functionality will be informed by user research and testing, and consumer protection will be a primary concern in this decision making.