This week’s call by TPR for trustees to “step up and sign the pledge” — Pledge to Combat Pension Scams — should sound a serious alarm for anyone concerned with protecting retirement savings — and ideally mark a turning point in how pension fraud is treated.
As BBC Scam Safe week shines a spotlight on fraud, trustees are urged to step up and make the Pledge.
- Pension fraud isn’t a niche problem. TPR’s latest analysis shows that savers over 55 are especially vulnerable — at a stage of life where recovery from losses becomes harder if not impossible.
- The “scams industry” is adapting. What began with under-the-radar “pension-liberation” scams has morphed into sophisticated schemes: false promises of early-access, high-yield investments, cherry-picked advice, clever cloning of legitimate providers — all designed to prey on hopes, fears and often urgency.
- Trustees and pension-scheme administrators are the first line of defence. TPR emphasises that signing the pledge and actively embedding anti-scam processes is now a mark of responsibility, not optional best practice.
Yet — this is where the structural gap shows. Despite the pledge, many schemes remain unsigned, reporting is uneven, and victims are frequently left isolated when things go wrong.
Where Get SAFE and Citizen Investigators come in
The systemic nature of pension fraud demand more than good intentions from trustees. It demands active, transparent, ethical oversight. That’s precisely where Get SAFE steps in.
🔍 Independent oversight and citizen-powered investigation
- Trustees may sign the pledge — but who verifies they truly implement robust due-diligence? Get SAFE can help provide independent audits and reviews of scheme governance, transfer approvals, and communications to members.
- Through our Citizen Investigator framework, we can assist individuals — especially over-55s — to spot red flags (excessive early-access promises, aggressive marketing, inconsistent adviser credentials, offshore arrangements, rushed transfers) before money leaves their hands.
📚 Education, empowerment, transparency
- Many victims are vulnerable not because they’re naïve — but often because they lack clarity amid complex jargon, stressful marketing, and time pressure. Get SAFE can supply plain-English guidance, checklists and warning-sign toolkits, tailored for lay savers and their families.
- For those considering transfers or investments: we can help them ask the right questions — inquire into adviser regulation, scheme provenance, fees, third-party reviews, liquidity, exit options — and show what a “healthy” pension-transfer process should look like.
🛡️ Advocacy, escalation & systemic pressure
- When schemes ignore warnings or act negligently, victims need a louder voice. Armed with evidence from Citizen Investigators, Get SAFE can help channel complaints to regulators, public-interest bodies or the media.
- By documenting recurring patterns and weak-spots across multiple cases, we can build an on-the-ground intelligence picture — adding to official reporting and strengthening policy advocacy (e.g. via public campaigns, regulator engagement).
What we recommend — Actionable next steps
For individuals, trustees, and the wider holistic-wealth community:
- Treat the pledge as the minimum. Signing is not enough — insist on transparency around due-diligence, transfer approvals, adviser credentials, and reporting pathways.
- Use Get SAFE’s Citizen Investigator model early. Before moving money, run background checks, request full paperwork, verify adviser or scheme legitimacy, and get an outside opinion.
- Embed scam-awareness into financial education. For clients, especially those 55+, make pension-fraud literacy a core part of any holistic-wealth or life-planning conversation.
- Build community pressure for accountability. Where schemes fail or behave ambiguously, help victims speak out — publicly if needed — and push regulators, the press, or consumer-rights organisations to act.
Why this aligns with the Academy of Life Planning mission
Our work has always aimed to deliver more than “returns” — we believe in security, clarity, dignity, trust. Pension savings represent decades of life’s labour: they deserve guardianship, not exposure to hidden predators.
With the renewed TPR push as a backdrop, Get SAFE has an opportunity to step in where institutional safeguards remain partial. Not as a profit-driven force, but as a community-powered shield for the vulnerable, a voice for accountability, and a builder of systemic resilience.
If we embed this posture of transparency, due diligence, and citizen empowerment into everything we do — from FLC advice to PML teaching — we stay true to the spirit of holistic wealth: wealth not just measured in money, but in trust, integrity, and security over a lifetime.
About Get SAFE
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) is a citizen-led initiative that empowers victims of financial harm to investigate, document, and pursue redress.
Through AI-enabled training, structured playbooks, and collaborative fellowship, Get SAFE transforms victims into advocates — ensuring that truth and justice are not luxuries, but rights.
In One Sentence
Goliathon turns victims of financial exploitation into confident, capable citizen investigators who can build professional-grade cases using structured training, emotional support, and independent AI.
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Purchase today for £2.99 and get your secure link to:
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Link to Goliathon Taster £2.99.
If the session resonates, you can upgrade to the full Goliathon Programme for £29 and continue your journey toward clarity, justice, and recovery.
Every year, thousands across the UK lose their savings, pensions, and peace of mind to corporate financial exploitation — and are left to face the aftermath alone.
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) exists to change that.
We’re creating a national lifeline for victims — offering free emotional recovery, life-planning, and justice support through our Fellowship, Witnessing Service, and Citizen Investigator training.
We’re now raising £20,000 to:
Register Get SAFE as a Charity (CIO)
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Every £50 donation provides a bursary for one survivor — giving access to the tools, training, and community needed to rebuild life and pursue justice with confidence.
Your contribution doesn’t just fund a project — it fuels a movement.
Support the Crowdfunder today and help us rebuild lives and restore justice.
Join us at: http://www.aolp.info/getsafe
steve.conley@aolp.co.uk | +44 (0)7850 102070
Academy of Life Planning 