It’s time to end the great pensions rip-off

Inside Business: The FCA has come under fire for having just 10 people working on pension scams

We shouldn’t throw bricks at the FCA without recognising it needs the support of politicians and a bigger budget (Rex)

The great pensions rip-off is a headline that could have been written at any time during the past 30 years.

There is no more fertile ground than people’s retirement savings for the depressingly large contingent of sharks, scam artists and rip-off merchants that bedevil the financial services industry. What’s really disturbing is that many of them work in “legitimate” parts of the industry and screw people over within the rules.

What former chancellor George Osborne described as “pension freedom” was a gift to them. A report from the Work and Pensions Committee, published today, shows it’s one that just keeps on giving.