Tag: Treasury

• Interactive guide expected to help staff spot and tackle economic abuse
• 95% of women who experience domestic abuse report experiencing economic abuse
• Treasury minister calls for experts to provide feedback on the guide

The interactive guide, which will be available widely later this year, is being released to 30,000 HMRC staff today to help them spot the signs and create an appropriate environment for victims to disclose their experiences. It builds on the government’s Economic Abuse Toolkit, released earlier this year.

Minister Atkins met with staff and survivors at Advance charity’s West London Women’s Centre today to mark the announcement and was joined by former Love Island contestant and domestic abuse campaigner Malin Andersson.

The minister ran through an early demo of the tool with attendees at the visit to drum up momentum as she called on experts to work with HMRC to get the online tool right, before they distribute it freely online later this year.

By increasing the awareness of staff in government, business and charities of economic abuse, the government hopes the new interactive tool will play its part in stopping violence against women and girls, to build stronger communities for future generations.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins said:

The government passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Act and I am determined to build on that commitment to help victims.

Economic and financial abuse can be less understood than other forms of domestic abuse, which is why it is vital organisations share best practice with one another whenever they can.

That is why I’ve asked HMRC to work with charities and experts over the summer to produce a publicly available interactive guide which staff from any organisation which speaks to customers will be able use.

Economic abuse, which domestic violence charity Refuge estimates 16% of adults in the UK have experienced, is when an individual’s ability to acquire, use and maintain economic resources are taken away by someone else in a coercive or controlling way.

Internal guidance has been distributed to 30,000 HMRC staff today to help front line staff spot victims of economic abuse when speaking to them over the phone. It will help them understand the different types of economic abuse, as well as what signs and characteristics to look out for.

The aim is for this guidance, with support from industry, charities and experts over the summer, to be turned into a free interactive tool to support businesses and organisations whose employees also speak to customers daily.

Malin Andersson said:

We need everyone to work together if we’re going to be able to stamp out domestic abuse once and for all, so it’s fantastic to see an initiative which will make a difference by training so many people, from businesses and charities, to recognise economic abuse.

Minister Atkins will also introduce the early demo of the interactive guidance to representatives from the financial services sector and charities at a roundtable later today, where she will hear more about what the sector is doing to tackle economic abuse and what more can be done.

By working with stakeholders to develop and tailor it, the government wants the interactive guidance to reflect the real-world experiences of victims.

Niki Scordi, Advance’s CEO said:

Understanding the behaviours of domestic abusers and their continuous attempts to intimidate and control survivors, mainly women and children, long after they leave the abusive home is vital. This includes control through economic and financial means, such as child support, school fees, bank accounts, loans and access to employment.

Supporting survivors with specialist Domestic Abuse Advocates in the community and charities like Advance is essential to help change, and sometimes save, the lives of those devasted by domestic and economic abuse.

The internal guidance distributed by HMRC to its staff today comes hot off the heels of the Economic Abuse Toolkit released in January 2023, which aims to help public sector organisations train staff to identify economic abuse.

Specialist charity Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA), which was one of the organisations which contributed to the Toolkit, has seen a 150% increase in its website user numbers over the past two years (April 2021 5200 users. April 2023 13,000 users).

SEA research also found seven in ten front-line professionals reported the number of victims of economic abuse coming to their organisation for help had increased since the start of the pandemic. By the end of the first lockdown, SEA found one in five women were planning to seek help around welfare benefits.

Tackling domestic abuse is a government priority and improving the response to economic abuse is integral to this. For the first time in history, economic abuse is now recognised in law as part of the statutory definition of domestic abuse included in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. This is in recognition of the devastating impact it can have on victims’ lives.

Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs OBE, CEO and founder of Surviving Economic Abuse said:

Economic abuse is an insidious and often invisible form of control, one which can trap a victim-survivor in a relationship with an abuser and leave them feeling like there is no escape. This form of abuse can create dependency on an abuser by restricting their access to economic resources, or instability if the survivor is forced to cover all household costs. It causes long lasting harm including debt and bad credit, so that even when someone manages to leave, these effects can follow them around for the rest of their lives, often preventing them from moving on safely.

We know that victim-survivors are more likely to disclose economic abuse to their bank than they are to the police.

It is crucial that frontline employees – whether they work in the public or private sector – are trained to understand economic abuse and how abusers might use their service to continue to control a victim. It is vital they are given the knowledge and the tools to spot the signs of economic abuse, develop specialist responses and feel confident signposting a survivor to broader support. The right response can be life changing.

We’re delighted to see the Treasury take this important step to ensure victim-survivors of economic abuse get a good response whoever they speak to. We look forward to working together to ensure this new interactive guide helps organisations effectively respond to economic abuse.

Further information

• The Economic Toolkit was collaboratively developed and published by the Government Debt Management Function and the debt advice sector.
• Members of the Fairness Group have worked together to produce the Vulnerability and the Economic Abuse Toolkit.  The Fairness group comprises of members from central and local governments and debt charities (including Surviving Economic Abuse – SEA).  The Debt Management area within HMRC is a member of the Fairness group and contributed to developing the toolkits.
• Stakeholders should contact hmrcguidanceteam@hmrc.gov.uk to register an interest in supporting with interactive tool development.
• 95% of women who experience domestic abuse report experiencing economic abuse. Reference for this: SEA-EJP-Evaluation-Framework_112020-2-2.pdf (survivingeconomicabuse.org)

• Chancellor to outline reforms to boost pensions and increase investment in British businesses
• the ‘Mansion House Reforms’ could unlock an additional £75 billion for high growth businesses, while reforms to defined contribution pension schemes will increase a typical earner’s pension pot by 12% over the course of a career
• comprehensive reforms will increase pension pots by as much as £16,000

The reforms will also unlock up to £75 billion of additional investment from defined contribution and local government pensions, supporting the Prime Minister’s priority of growing the economy, and delivering tangible benefits to pensions savers.

The United Kingdom has the largest pension market in Europe, worth over £2.5 trillion. Over the past ten years Automatic Enrolment has helped an extra ten million people save for their futures, with £115 billion saved in 2021, but how this money is invested is limiting returns for savers. Comparable Australian schemes invest ten times more in private markets than UK schemes, reaping the rewards that UK savers are missing out on.

To level the playing field, the Chancellor and the Lord Mayor have supported an agreement between nine of the UK’s largest Defined Contribution pension providers, committing them to the objective of allocating 5% of assets in their default funds to unlisted equities by 2030. These providers represent over £400 billion in assets and the majority of the UK’s Defined Contribution workplace pensions market.

This could unlock up to £50 billion of investment in high growth companies by 2030 if all UK Defined Contribution pension schemes follow suit.

More effective investments by defined contribution pension schemes will also increase savers’ pension pots by up to 12%, or as much as £16,000 for an average earner.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said:

“British pensioners should benefit from British business success. By unlocking investment, we will boost retirement income by over £1,000 a year for typical earner over the course of their career.

“This also means more investment in our most promising companies, driving growth in the UK.”

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride said:

“British workers should have the confidence that their pension savings are working as hard as they are.

“Our reforms will benefit savers and society – unlocking investment into pioneering UK businesses, growing the economy, and helping the record number of people in this country saving into a pension to achieve the retirement they want.”

The Chancellor’s Mansion House Reforms will also deliver better returns for savers through a new Value for Money Framework which will make clear that investment decisions made by pension firms should be based on overall long-term returns and not simply costs. Pension schemes which are not achieving the best possible outcome for their members will be wound up into larger, better performing schemes.

Analysis shows that over a five-year period there can be as much as 46% difference between the best and worst performing pension schemes. This means that a saver with a pot of £10,000 could have notionally lost £5,000 over a 5-year period from being in a lowest performing scheme.

The Mansion House Reforms will be guided by the Chancellor’s three golden rules: to secure the best possible outcome for pension savers; to always prioritise a strong and diversified gilt market as we seek to deliver an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change in our pensions market; and to strengthen the UK’s position as a leading financial centre to create wealth and fund public services.

To ensure that the money unlocked by these reforms is invested quickly and effectively, the Chancellor has asked the British Business Bank to explore the case for government to play a greater role in establishing investment vehicles, drawing upon the BBB’s skills and expertise.

This will complement the £250 million of support that government has made available through the Long-term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS) initiative to incentivise new industry-led investment vehicles.

The government will also encourage the establishment of new Collective Defined Contribution funds which can invest more effectively by pooling assets as well as launch a call for evidence to explore how we can support pension trustees to improve their skills, overcome cultural barriers and realise the best outcomes for their pension schemes and subsequently their members.

Defined Benefit pensions

For the Local Government Pension Schemes a consultation will be launched on setting an ambition to double existing investments in private equity to 10%, which could unlock £25 billion by 2030. The consultation proposes a deadline of March 2025 for all Local Government Pension Scheme funds to transfer their assets into LGPS pools and setting a direction that each pool should exceed £50 billion of assets.

To improve outcomes for savers in a highly fragmented market, with over 5,000 Defined Benefit Schemes, the government will set out its plans on introducing a permanent superfund regulatory regime to provide sponsoring employers and trustees with a new way of managing Defined Benefit liabilities.

A new call for evidence will also launch tomorrow on the possible role of the Pension Protection Fund and the part Defined Benefit schemes could play in productive investment whilst securing members’ interests and protecting the sound functioning and effectiveness of the gilt market.

Capital Markets

The UK has the largest stock market in Europe and one of the deepest in the world – the London Stock Exchange had the most Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) outside of the US in 2021.

A comprehensive set of reforms will help attract the fastest growing companies in the world to grow and list in the UK. Prospectuses will be simplified, another milestone of Lord Hill’s UK Listing Review, replacing the EU’s outdated regime.

Firm’s prospectuses for investors will be easier to produce, more accessible and understandable, saving companies time and money and attracting more firms to do business in the UK.

Protectionist rules inherited from our time in the EU will be abolished. The Share Trading Obligation and Double Volume Cap have held back UK businesses and will be removed so firms can access the best and most liquid markets anywhere in the world.

The government has also accepted all of Rachel Kent’s Research Review published today, paving the way for a new ‘Research Platform’ that will provide a one-stop-shop for firms looking for research experts. It also sets the path for potentially removing the unbundling rules – an inherited EU law that requires brokers to charge a separate fee for research.

The Chancellor will set out plans to establish an entirely new kind of stock market that allows private companies to access capital markets without floating on a stock exchange. This ‘Intermittent Trading Venue’ would be a world first and will help firms grow and boost the UK economy. It will be complemented by a move to make shares fully digital rather than written on paper, saving businesses time and money.

This builds on the Chancellor’s Edinburgh Reforms and Solvency II reforms which will unlock over £100 billion of productive investment from insurance firms across the UK over a decade.

Seizing the opportunities of the future

To ensure the continued success of the UK’s world-leading financial services sector, firms must be ready to innovate faster, with regulators willing to support them as they do.

Following the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 passing into law, the government has announced that it is commencing repeal of almost 100 pieces of unnecessary retained EU law for financial services, further simplifying the UK’s regulatory rulebook.

The government launched an independent review into the future of payments – led by Joe Garner, former Chief Executive Officer of Nationwide Building Society – to help deliver the next generation of world class retail payments, including looking at mobile payments.

The government also welcomes a report suggesting ways to move to fully digital shares, scrapping outdated paper-based shares. This will make markets more efficient and modernize how people own shares.

Further information

• The Mansion House Compact members are: Aviva; Scottish Widows; L&G; Aegon; Phoenix; Nest; Smart Pension; M&G; Mercer.
• The package of reforms announced today could help increase pension pots for an average earner who starts saving at 18 by 12% over their career – over £1,000 more a year in retirement – all whilst supporting UK economy, businesses, and employment.
• Analysis shows a difference in returns between schemes over a 5-year period of up to 46% in some cases. This means that a saver with a pot of £10,000 could have notionally lost £5,000 over a 5-year period from being in a lowest performing scheme.

Reaction to the Chancellor’s Mansion House Reforms

Jamie Dimon, Chairman & CEO, JPMorgan Chase said:

“Great financial centers stay competitive by responding to the market and evolving through the kinds of important iterations that the Chancellor has announced. It’s also good to see the U.K. preparing for the industries of tomorrow considering the great promise of life sciences and A.I. as cornerstones of the economy in the years to come.”

Sir Jon Symonds CBE, Chair, GSK said:

“I welcome these important reforms which will further strengthen the UK capital markets and support economic growth.  The changes will help increase investment returns for pension savers through improved access to all asset classes including in high growth sectors, and ensure the UK’s most innovative companies are better supported by UK capital to stay in this country as they scale to maturity.”

Brent Hoberman, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, Founders Forum, Founders Factory said:

“The planned pension reforms will enable for capital to be productively invested in funds and scaleup companies in the UK.  This should be welcome news to the UK industries of the future, their ability to attract more capital will create more national champions and generate growth, jobs and increased tax revenue.”

“The reforms will enable the UK to build on the positive momentum in these key parts of the economy drive further synergies between it’s world class financial institutions and entrepreneurial base.”

C. S. Venkatakrishnan, Group Chief Executive, Barclays said:

“The UK has needed a bold, forward-looking policy agenda and industrial strategy to grow the economy. These Mansion House Reforms are an important step in the right direction in mobilising private capital to support growth and innovation.”

Irene Graham OBE, CEO, ScaleUp Institute said:

“The package of measures announced by the Chancellor today are very much welcomed by the ScaleUp Institute. They contain significant and innovative solutions which will help to enable easier and simpler access to capital markets and patient growth capital. These new initiatives, coupled with the reforms already underway, will support and fuel the global ambitions of our scaleups, and high-potential scaling businesses, across all sectors and all areas of the UK.”

Miles Celic, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said:

“The competitiveness and attractiveness of any successful international financial centre must, by definition, always be a work in progress. The Chancellor is right to be ambitious in building on the UK’s successes and recognising that we can’t afford to be complacent.

“The Mansion House Reforms are ambitious, pragmatic and necessary. They will underpin the UK industry’s future success. Most importantly, their main beneficiaries will be the British people, who will gain from greater investments in growing businesses, revitalising communities and improving retirements.”

Chris Hulatt, Co-Founder, Octopus Group said:

“We welcome government’s efforts to make the UK a more attractive place to start a business, and support measures that provide additional opportunities for private companies to raise capital.

“Finding new ways for the most skilled and talented entrepreneurs to access capital as they build businesses is fundamental to helping the UK maintain its place as the best place to start, build and scale a business.”

Noel Quinn, Group Chief Executive, HSBC said:

“I welcome the strong and comprehensive package of measures announced by the Chancellor in his Mansion House speech.  Unlocking equity to support companies in innovative high-growth sectors such as technology and life sciences is vital to the future growth of the UK economy.”

Lord Mayor, Nicholas Lyons said:

“These reforms and the Mansion House Compact mark a historic turning point that will accomplish the dual aim of securing a brighter future for retirees and channelling billions into our economy.  I’m proud to have convened key industry players to make this commitment to unlock £50bn in capital by the end of the decade which will improve returns for pension savers and support firms to grow, stay and list in the UK.”

Tim Orton, Chief Investment Officer, Aegon UK said:

“Aegon UK is proud to be a founder signatory of the Mansion House Compact which will help deliver better long-term outcomes for our customers. We are committed to ensuring our customers can access and share in the growth and success of innovative companies we invest in. We will use our scale and expertise to develop investment solutions seeking to improve the retirement outcomes of the millions of members of the defined contribution pension schemes we support.  The Compact will also create opportunities that help deliver our climate targets as we progress towards net zero.”

Sir Nigel Wilson, Group CEO, Legal & General said:

“As the UK’s largest manager of money for pension clients, L&G is pleased to support the ambition set by the Compact. Increasing investment in science, technology and infrastructure will support better returns for the tens of millions saving for their retirement, as well as stimulate much needed long-term growth for the UK economy.”

Mark Fawcett, CEO, Nest Invest said:

“For many years now, illiquid assets have been integral to diversified DC pension schemes around the world. It’s been a key driver behind Nest setting up our own private market mandates to ensure our members aren’t missing out. Nest will continue to increase our investment in unlisted equities, helping our 12 million members benefit from the strong returns these types of deals can typically offer.”

Ruston Smith, Chair, Smart said:

“Smart Pension is committed to securing better outcomes for long-term savers. Giving UK savers access to higher net returns by investing in unlisted equities, including innovative, high-growth UK companies as part of a well diversified portfolio, will deliver these outcomes over time. We are pleased to be a signatory of the Mansion House Compact and, as a successful British fintech, we are proud to be supporting the country’s technology sector, helping home-grown start-ups and scale-ups to flourish and thrive.”

Scottish Widows, CEO, Chirantan Barua said:

“The industry needs to modernise the investment options available to customers.  With the right consumer protections in place, the proposals announced today could make a huge difference to our customers and the wider UK economy. I’m proud that Scottish Widows is a founding signatory of the Mansion House Compact.”

Phil Parkinson, Investments and Retirement Leader, Mercer said:

“Mercer supports proposals that lead to improved pension scheme member outcomes. As a global investment solutions provider, we see first-hand the value that illiquid asset allocations can bring to investors’ portfolios from a risk and a return perspective and are in favour of initiatives designed to unlock this asset class for DC members.”

Edward Braham, Chair, M&G said:

“Patient capital put to work in companies or projects over multiple decades is essential to support economic growth and importantly, capture value for people’s pensions as they save for their retirement. M&G’s heritage is in investing in private markets, whether it is through infrastructure, real estate or innovative companies with purpose. We are democratising access to private markets through the Prudential With Profits Fund, and are supportive of DC pension reforms that encourage more investment of this kind that has potential to result in positive outcomes for savers.”

Mike Eakins, Chief Investment Officer, Phoenix Group said:

“We are proud to sign the Compact, which is an important step to allow UK long-term savers to invest in a more diversified portfolio, giving them access to the potential returns of a broader range of assets, in line with their international counterparts. Currently, only 9% of UK pension funds are invested in alternative assets as compared to 23% in other major pensions markets. With the right regulatory environment, Phoenix Group could invest up to £40 billion in sustainable and/or productive assets to support economic growth, levelling up and the climate change agenda whilst also keeping policyholder protection at its core.”

A Yorkshire-based finance boss has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court.

An investigation by the Insolvency Service found Liam Francis Wainwright, 61, from Leeds, had falsified documents to mislead investors and spend their money on ventures including a racehorse syndicate and his own failed private businesses.

These investors were victims of a classic Ponzi scheme, whereby the returns paid to them were funded by the capital injections from later investors.

Wainwright, who had been a director of Rawdon Asset Finance Ltd, was disqualified for 11 years in November 2020 after investigators at the Insolvency Service found he had falsified around £12 million worth of entries in the company’s loan book in the two years before the company entered administration in 2019.

After a further criminal investigation, the Insolvency Service brought the director to court on counts of false accounting, fraud, forgery, and acting as a director while bankrupt.

Julie Barnes, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Liam Wainwright’s greed and selfish actions had a devastating effect on the people who had put their trust in him and his business.

His victims included elderly and vulnerable people. Many investors lost most or all of the money they had entrusted to him, and some lost their life savings.

His sentencing today shows that the Insolvency Service will seek the toughest penalties for those who break the law, to help ensure that the UK is a safe place for investors and for businesses.

The court heard that Wainwright had enjoyed a lavish lifestyle as a result of his offending, and that his actions had had a devastating impact on individuals and families who had invested money into the business.

Wainwright told investors and shareholders that Rawdon Asset Finance was lending money to businesses with security on property, land or plant and equipment, but was in fact using the cash to pay returns to other creditors, buy into a racehorse syndicate and to fund other companies, including a Lincolnshire-based property development and a redevelopment company in West Yorkshire, both linked to himself.

By the time the company went into liquidation, Rawdon Asset Finance’s creditors were owed more than £20 million. Liquidators have so far recovered £750,630.

Wainwright admitted that he began to falsify accounts from around 2017, to hide the company’s true financial position from his co-directors and investors. He also admitted he had earlier forged a mortgagor’s signature on a legal charge to mislead investors and had – between April 2010 and April 2011 – breached the terms of a previous bankruptcy by acting as a director of the company the court’s permission.

The court also heard that Wainwright had lied about the company’s accounts and the destination of funds in order to elicit £100,000 from one investor only weeks before the business collapsed, in the full knowledge that investors would not get their money back.

Wainwright pleaded guilty on 20 February 2023 at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court, and was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court by His Honour Judge Bayliss on 9 June 2023.

The Judge passed concurrent sentences for all charges, except for the sentence for fraud against the final investor, which was added consecutively to reflect an escalation in Wainwright’s culpability.

Background information

• Liam Francis Wainwright is from Leeds and his date of birth is April 1962.
• Rawdon Asset Finance Limited (RAF). Company number 06902099
• The prosecution was brought by the Insolvency Service on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

The following sentences were imposed, with reductions reflecting credit for the plea:

1. False accounting – 6 years 6 months, reduced to 4 years 4 months.
2. Forgery – 2 years after trial, reduced to 16 months, concurrent.
3. Breach of Director Disqualification – 12 months after trial, reduced to 8 months, concurrent.
4. Failing to Surrender offence under Bail Act – 28 days, concurrent.
5. Fraud – 4 years after trial, reduced to 2 years 8 months, consecutive.

Liam Wainwright remains disqualified as a director.