One in five companies (19 per cent) are aware of at least one of their employees falling victim to a pension scam, research from Barnett Waddingham has found.
The survey, conducted by the consultancy firm among 200 HR decision makers and pension managers from UK companies, showed half of the respondents were not aware of any of their staff having fallen victim to scams, while 31 per cent said they were not sure.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) raised alarm about growing numbers of pension scams earlier this month after it found people had been scammed out of an average £91,000 in the last year.
More than a third (38 per cent) of employers told Barnett Waddingham they had raised awareness among employees in order to safeguard them from becoming a victim, while another third (34 per cent) had not done so to date, but was keen to do so.
The remaining respondents (28 per cent) had no plans to raise awareness of scams among their staff.
The consultancy firm said "raising awareness against pension scams might occur in a reactionary way, rather than employers taking a proactive stance", after it found about 40 per cent of the companies that have alerted their employees to potential scams have victims among their staff.
According to research from Prudential, almost one in 10 people aged 55-plus fear they have been targeted by suspected scammers since the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015.
Since pension freedoms, the number of people transferring out of their defined benefit (DB) pension transfers has been soaring, as savers seek to take advantage of sky-high transfer values and to move their nest eggs into defined contribution (DC) schemes.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), funds transferred out of pension schemes almost tripled to a record £34.2bn in 2017.
Barnett Waddingham found 36 per cent of companies saw their employees exercise more choice since the new rules were introduced, while 40 per cent have seen no change.
The consultancy firm said larger schemes experienced more movement and the business consulting, IT and retail sectors were particularly affected.
Regarding retirement choices, 18 per cent of workers were retiring earlier, while 22 per cent were choosing to delay the decision.
The majority (51 per cent) of companies, however, reported they have not seen any changes in this area.
maria.espadinha@ft.com
