The number of UK adults receiving unsolicited approaches about their pensions has fallen substantially in the past five years, dropping by six and a half million people.

In analysis of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) financial lives survey, Broadstone found that in 2017, a fifth (20%) of adults experienced a pension-related unsolicited approach. However, this dropped to 16% in 2020 and 7% in 2022.

The analysis found that this reduction in approaches was witnessed by all age groups, but it was most prominent for those in the 55-64 age group, with unsolicited approaches falling from 27% in 2017 to 13% in 2022.

The 55-64 age demographic was the most targeted group by scammers because of their ability to access pension savings from age 55, their need to make decisions ahead of retirement and their pot reaching its peak.

Broadstone also found that 3% of those that had received these approaches had received calls, texts and emails from scammers pretending to be from the Government, offering retirement planning advice. This compared to 14% in 2017.

A further 4% said they had been offered a free pension review, falling by half compared to 2017 (8%), while 2% said they were offered the ability to ‘unlock’ their pension early (before 55), dropping by two-thirds compared to 2017 (6%).

Other tactics used by scammers included offering the chance to invest money released from a pension with very high or guaranteed returns (2%), the offer of a ‘loan’, ‘saving advice’ or ‘cashback’ to take advantage of a pension deal (2%), or the promise of transferring a pension to a new scheme with a guaranteed high return (1%).

The Government took action against pension scams by banning pensions cold-calling in 2019 and introducing regulation in 2021 that gave pension trustees and scheme managers new powers to stop suspicious pension transfers ending up in the hands of a fraudster.

Head of market engagement at Broadstone, Simon Kew, said: “Pension scams ruin lives and inflict immense financial and mental trauma on victims.

“It is great that we are seeing substantial progress against fraudsters with the proportion of adults receiving unsolicited approaches regarding their pension falling rapidly. Action from the regulator and the Government appears to be making a really positive impact.

“However, even just one pension scam is too many and as an industry we must remain vigilant against the actions of fraudsters. Continuing to drive public awareness about the risks of pension scams and how people can protect themselves is crucial. Pension scheme trustees and administrators also have an important role to play in spotting red flags to protect their members.”

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