The financial services regulatory family has highlighted work to support former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) as an example of its collaborative approach over the past year, stating that it is "proud" of the work undertaken on this.

The comments were included in the Wider Implications Framework Annual Report 2022, which looked to reflect on the first year of the refreshed framework, highlighting key achievements and changes that may be made going forwards.

The Wider Implications Framework was re-launched in early 2022 as a means for members of the financial services regulatory family, including the Financial Ombudsman Service, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), The Pensions Regulator (TPR), and Money and Pensions Service (Maps), to work with each other on issues that could have a wider impact across industry.

In particular, the report highlighted seven issues that have benefited from the structured collaboration across the regulatory family, with the report stating that members are "proud of the work that has been done on these".

Work around the BSPS was one of these seven areas, given recent efforts to ensure consumers who were unsuitably advised to transfer out of the BSPS and suffered losses as a result receive fair redress, particularly considering the reluctance of former scheme members to complain.

The report stated: "The members acknowledge that BSPS is ongoing and work is in progress, and are constantly sharing insight and adapting to new developments. Many steelworkers who were unsuitably advised to transfer lost life changing amounts of money and have been reluctant to complain.

"The consumer redress scheme will help to ensure that steelworkers who received unsuitable advice but who are reluctant to complain can access redress and members have worked together to ensure the process is as streamlined and accessible as possible."

The report also highlighted broader joint engagement and communications activity, pointing to the FCA and TPR's join ScamSmart campaign as an example of this collaborative approach.

It also noted that the Financial Ombudsman Service and Maps have collaborated regarding a ‘pension loss signposting framework’ to ensure customers were directed to the right place at the right time when seeking recourse to any loss of funds.

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