Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2016 to Question 55219, for what reason he has not made an assessment of trends in the incidence of pension fraud in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK since the introduction of the pension freedoms announced in the Budget 2014.

Data on reports of pension scams is collected via Action Fraud. However, the government, working with the City of London Police and other partners as part of Project Bloom, is aware that many scams in the UK, and the true extent of associated losses, go un-reported. The true extent of losses may also only become apparent some time after the initial report and increases in fraud reports could be due to a number of factors, for example increased industry reporting or rising awareness amongst the public due to high profile information campaigns.

The Government takes the issue of pension scams very seriously, which is why, on 5 December 2016 we launched a public consultation on a package of measures aimed at tackling pension scams. This included a proposed definition of pension fraud to allow better monitoring and data collection on pension scams.

The Government will continue to work closely with the City of London Police and other Project Bloom partners to help local forces and other agencies raise awareness on pension scams and encourage more people to report scamming activity and losses.

The table below breaks down the location of the victim of reported pension scams collated by Action Fraud over the last two financial years.