Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to bring pre-payment funeral plans under the regulation of the Financial Conduct Authority in line with other financial products.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
HM Treasury launched a call for evidence on the regulation of pre-paid funeral plans in June 2018. The call for evidence has confirmed that consumer detriment is present in the pre-paid funeral plan sector and that there is broad demand for the sector to come under compulsory regulation.
Consequently, the government intends to bring the pre-paid funeral plan market within the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority and is currently consulting on the proposed legislative framework to implement this proposal. This will allow the FCA to establish a robust regulatory regime which will apply to all funeral plan providers, and improve protection for consumers.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to enable mortgage customers who were trapped when their mortgages were sold to vulture funds to take advantage of lower interest rates; and if he will launch an inquiry.
Answered by John Glen
The Treasury recognises that mortgage prisoners can be in a difficult and sometimes stressful situation. However, the servicer of these mortgages must be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means that customers are protected by the FCA’s principle of Treating Customers Fairly; their Mortgage Conduct of Business rules; and customers have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The Treasury has also worked closely with the FCA to consider how to remove the regulatory barriers that might prevent some customers from accessing better deals.
The FCA are now consulting on changes that will move the required affordability assessment from an absolute test to a relative one. This will enable lenders to more easily accept switching consumers, providing they are up-to-date with repayments and are not borrowing more.
The FCA consultation closes on 26 June 2019.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will limit disguised remuneration loan charges to loans entered into after the Finance Act 2017 received Royal Assent; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The charge on disguised remuneration (DR) loans is targeted at artificial tax avoidance schemes where earnings were paid via a third party in the form of ‘loans’ which in reality were never repaid.
DR scheme users took home almost all of their pay tax-free. However, despite the claims made by promoters, these schemes never worked and the amounts paid were always taxable under the law at the time.
The Government has decided that the charge on DR loans is the right way to ensure that everybody pays the taxes they owe and contributes towards the public-funded services from which they benefit.
Restricting the charge only to DR loans entered into after Finance Act 2017 received Royal Assent would not be fair to ordinary taxpayers, who have always paid the right amount of tax and have not engaged in tax avoidance schemes.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed abolition of Class 2 National Insurance Contributions on creators earning less than £6,205 per year.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
On November 2nd 2017, the Government announced a one year delay to the abolition of Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs) to allow time to engage with interested parties and Parliamentarians with concerns relating to the impact on self-employed individuals with low profits. The Government is considering these concerns, including those you have raised, and will respond in due course.