Pensions Regulator warns of increased fraud risk

by Gill Montia

Story link: Pensions Regulator warns of increased fraud risk

The Pensions Regulator is alerting pension scheme trustees, employers and advisers to the increased risk of fraud during the recession.

The body, which regulates UK occupational pension schemes, has stated that the economic downturn “may accentuate the vulnerability of some schemes to certain actions which give us cause for concern”.

The watchdog is at the same time stressing the importance of good governance during the credit crisis.

Employees and pension scheme members are being urged to report any concerns to trustees and the watchdog is also advocating whistle-blowing, where employees are known to be misusing pension funds.

Today’s warning follows an alert in February when the regulator told companies that they must put the health of their pension funds before shareholders’ dividends.

The watchdog’s chairman, David Norgrove, stated that a pension recovery plan “should not suffer, for example, in order to enable companies to continue paying dividends to shareholders”.