Parliament committee publishes report on scam reimbursement

The Treasury Sub-Committee on Financial Services Regulations published its Thirteenth report, "Scam reimbursement: pushing for a better solution", on Monday 6 February 2023¹. The report carries the citation HC 939 (2022-23) and sits within the committee's inquiry into the authorised push payment fraud reimbursement scheme¹.

The inquiry's work package ran from Wednesday 7 December 2022 to Thursday 30 May 2024¹. The committee took oral evidence on 13 December 2022 from Chris Hemsley, then Managing Director at the Payment Systems Regulator, Abby Thomas, Chief Executive and Chief Ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, and David Pitt, Chief Executive at Pay.UK; that transcript was published on 14 December 2022².

The Payment Systems Regulator responded to the report. That response was published as the Sixth Special Report, "Scam reimbursement: pushing for a better solution: Payment Systems Regulator's response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report", on 14 June 2023, cited as HC 1500³.

Further material followed. Correspondence from Sir Dave Ramsden of the Bank of England on APP fraud and CHAPS payments, dated 8 June, was published on 21 June 2023². A letter from Chris Hemsley, by then described as Chief Executive of the Payment Systems Regulator, relating to APP fraud and dated 15 May 2024, was published on 21 May 2024, and a letter from Pay.UK to the Chair relating to authorised push payment fraud, dated 17 May 2024, was published on 24 May 2024³.

The committee's publications list also records a Fourth Report, "The work of the Sub-Committee on Financial Services Regulations: January 2024" (HC 496), published 1 February 2024, and an Eighteenth Report, "The work of the Sub-Committee on Financial Services Regulations" (HC 952-ii), published 6 July 2023, both under the financial services regulation consultations inquiry³.

The committee states that it does not look at individual cases or specific complaints³. The report's recommendations and the substance of the regulator's response have not been reported here.

Why it matters for households

Authorised push payment fraud is the category of scam in which someone is tricked into sending money from their own account to an account controlled by a fraudster. The committee's inquiry examined the reimbursement scheme intended to cover these losses, so its conclusions and the regulator's response bear on whether, and how quickly, victims of this kind of fraud are repaid by their bank or payment firm¹.

The documents set out above are the committee's report, the regulator's formal response, and correspondence between the committee, the Payment Systems Regulator, Pay.UK and the Bank of England³. The dates matter for anyone tracing how the reimbursement arrangements developed: the report was published on 6 February 2023, the regulator's response on 14 June 2023, and the correspondence in May and June 2024¹.

The committee has said it does not consider individual cases or complaints, so it is not a route for a household to pursue a specific disputed claim³. General background on how these scams work and how firms are authorised is covered in our guides to scams and fraud and to checking a firm is authorised.

What happens next

The inquiry's work package is recorded as running to Thursday 30 May 2024¹. No further steps beyond the publications listed have been reported.