The nationwide lobby for a ban on pension cold calling has come a long way since the original petition was filed by West Yorkshire-based chartered independent financial planner Darren Cooke.
The government is now mulling over the responses to a consultation on banning all unsolicited pension calls – regardless of whether an individual has ‘opted in’ to receiving third party communication – which was unveiled in the last Autumn Statement.
A total of 8,690 individuals including former pension minister Baroness Altmann, her predecessor Sir Steve Webb and Rory Percival, a former technical specialist at the Financial Conduct Authority, are backing the initiative.
Support from key industry figures, Mr Cooke said, elevated the campaign to a level of prominence that would have been unattainable under his own steam. His petition would have needed to attract 10,000 signatures to receive a response from the government, and 100,000 for it to be considered for debate in parliament.
Consumer champion endorsement
The most telling endorsement was from consumer champion Martin Lewis, Mr Cooke said. The most telling endorsement was from consumer champion Martin Lewis, Mr Cooke said: “I was standing at the side of the pitch watching my son in a football training session when I saw a plethora of notifications on people signing the petition – all because Martin had endorsed us on his Twitter account. He probably generated around 2,000 signatures.”
What many people do not know, according to Mr Cooke, is that a cold-calling ban was close to becoming law through the ‘backdoor’ of the Pension Schemes Bill, which is yet to receive royal assent.
He said: “There are friends of the campaign who are former politicians with knowledge of how Westminster works. The amendment was a result of these friends being a little bit sneaky. Part of it was to force the government’s hand.
“We managed to get it into the bill as an amendment at the House of Lord’s stage, but the government circumvented it by bringing forward its own legislation that would tackle the issue in the near future so we took the amendment out.”
Pension cold calling is rife at present. Research by the Money Advice Service suggests that there could be as many as eight scam calls every second – the equivalent of 250m calls per year.
Citizens Advice has calculated that 10.9m consumers have received unsolicited contact about their pension since April 2015.
Mr Cooke’s decision to set up the petition was prompted by anger after watching a BBC Panorama documentary on pension cold calling. He drew a link between an unscrupulous scheme featured on the programme and one he had encountered and reported to the FCA 18 months before the show’s broadcast.
He said: “I went on Twitter after the show and it turned out that I was not the only person who had reported a similar scheme to the FCA. I thought somebody needed to do something about it and that somebody could be me.”
Filing the petition proved to be a headache. Mr Cooke said he had to wait for one of the existing two petitions that called for a blanket ban on cold calling to expire before he was able to submit his more prescriptive lobby, which calls for unsolicited phone or email communications for investments or pensions to be made illegal.
As the author of the petition, Mr Cooke has come under the spotlight as it continues to gather national attention. However, he is quick to point out that the initiative was originally sponsored by five fellow advisers. These were: Phillip Bray, marketing director of Sense Network; Chris Daems of Essex-based Cervello Financial Planning; Scott Gallacher of Leicester-based Rowley Turton; Martin Bamford of Surrey-based Informed Choice; and Al Rush, founder of robo-adviser Fiveraday.
Business opportunity shunned
Has Mr Cooke’s rise to prominence translated to an uptick in business?
“The short answer is no,” Mr Cooke said.
“I have become a figurehead by accident – not by design. I did not start the petition for commercial purposes. I’ve made a point of not entering any awards and refrain from mentioning it in any of my marketing material.
“I did have one client who called and said, ‘Now that there is a lot of attention on you, I suppose my fees will be going up.’ This was not the case.”
Businesses that offer a confirmed appointment-making service through cold calling or indirectly solicited call requests would have to revisit their business model under the government proposals, according to Mr Cooke.
“I have not heard of any prudent financial advisers who have secured new business in this way,” he said.
“While I feel sorry for these types of businesses, it is for the greater good.”
Mr Cooke mused about lobbying against the current adviser levy of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme once his cold calling lobby has met its objectives.
He added: “Or I might just fade back into obscurity. I have had my 15 minutes of fame. It has been good fun.”
Myron Jobson is features writer at Financial Adviser
Darren Cooke's Career Ladder
2015-present
Director and chartered independent financial planner
Red Circle Financial Planning
2013-present
Chairman
DE55 Business Networking
2013-2015
Chartered independent financial planner
Positive Solutions/Red Circle Financial Planning
1994-2012
Various roles including commercial independent financial adviser
HSBC
