Work and Pensions Committee chair Frank Field has told the Financial Conduct Authority to get its “house in order” to prevent another situation like the British Steel Pension Scheme saga from happening.

It comes as the trustee of the new BSPS said it had “comfortably” met the minimum size and initial funding tests. Trustee chairman Allan Johnston said: “The minimum size and initial funding tests have now been met paving the way for the new BSPS to go ahead on 28 March as planned. This is very good news for the 83,000 members who wanted to receive their benefits from the new scheme and chose to switch to it.

Field said the news brings “welcome certainty” to the BSPS members who opted for the new scheme. “They should take reassurance from the sponsor’s commitment to ongoing support, and the safety net that the PPF provides. That certainty contrasts with the great anxiety faced by the minority of steelworkers conned into unsuitable investments by vulture advisers chasing no-transfer, no-fee payments,” he said.

The Committee has also published further correspondence with the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In a letter to the FCA, Field refers to emails he has forwarded to them from members of the BSPS affected by inappropriate advice they were given on transferring out of the scheme.

Members described how they were told by advisers that transferring out was a “no brainer”, with one adviser suggesting to a member that he could also look into transferring his wife out of a Local Government Pension Scheme. Several said they are now locked into a fund where there is a 5 per cent exit fee, and one did not have a discussion about investment decisions upon transferring out. Field noted that if necessary the FCA can forward the correspondence from the members to the police.

In a letter from FCA executive director of supervision – wholesale, investment and specialist Megan Butler, she told Field the regulator has accepted nine voluntary requirements from advice firms, and another business has changed its business, and vary its permissions, in what is called a voluntary variation of permissions. In addition, a letter from the FSCS it said it has declared Active Wealth UK in default as it has become insolvent, so those affected can now make a compensation claim to the FSCS.

“I also welcome the FCA’s latest update on the advice firms caught in their dragnet, but it is vital that the FCA looks not only at the specific firms that were active around British Steel – it must also look much more closely at any and all connected entities that seek to pick up where those firms left off,” Field said.

“We warned of a major misselling scandal developing around BSPS, and right now that risk is still real. BSPS won’t be the last scheme restructured in this way. The regulators need to get their houses in order now to protect pension scheme members next time.”

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