The House of Lords could force the government to enforce a ban on cold-calling despite any legislative amendments being ruled out for a further three years.
Today (24/10/17), a cross-party group will put forward an amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill, proposing that the government ban cold-calling and in turn increase protection for pensioners.
Led by former pensions minister Ros Altmann, the group’s proposed changes to the Bill would mirror those which apply to mortgage related cold-calling, as well as setting out a duty of care which debt firms would have to abide by when calling customers.
The amendment to the Bill will be discussed in the House of Lords this afternoon.
Commenting on the need for public protection and the reasoning behind the proposed changes, Altmann stated: “The amendments would make a significant difference to the public and would pave the way for the government to actually fulfil its commitments to ban cold-calling, help vulnerable customers and to allow those with big debts to have more time to receive help to sort out their financial affairs.
“This is something I am passionate about and it saddens me I have had to join with opposition parties to try to force such measures through when it is so clear they are important for protecting the public.”
