The government has scrapped plans to introduce a pensions cold calling ban from the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill.

During its second reading in the House of Lords, Wednesday 5 July, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Work and Pensions, Baroness Buscombe, said that the government “take the threat of pension scams very seriously”.

“Such scams can cost people their life savings and leave them facing retirement with a limited income, with little or no opportunity to build up their pension savings again. That is why the government launched a consultation in December 2016 looking at three potential interventions to tackle this issue, including a ban on cold calling in relation to pensions to help stop fraudsters contacting individuals,” she explained.

Baroness Buscombe said the government will publish their response to the consultation shortly, to set out its next steps. She added that it is a “complex area” that requires “careful and detailed consultation with stakeholders during the year”.

“In particular, there are questions of how to define existing relationships and how to deal with referrals and third parties. As such, we do not propose to include a cold-calling ban in the Bill at this time,” she added.

Her response came after several comments from other Lords, including former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann and Lord Sharkey, who described the omission as “regrettable”.

Altmann added: “To echo the calls from, among others, the noble Lords, Lord McKenzie and Lord Sharkey, I ask my noble friend to consider bringing back the abandoned legislation to ban cold-calling on pensions, too.”

Plans for a ban on pensions cold calling were backed by the industry last year after Red Circle Financial Planning chartered IFA Darren Cooke launched a petition calling for the ban. Shortly after, the government launched a consultation on pension scams with a proposal to ban pensions cold calling.

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