The SIPP and SSAS trade body Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes (AMPS) said it has made progress with liaison with regulators and demonstrated that by having representatives from HMRC at its annual spring conference.

More than 120 SIPP and SSAS experts attended the event held in London this week.

The event heard an HMRC presentation about the new Pension Schemes Return (PSR) introduced in April and the raft of changes that have already been made as a result of industry feedback leading up to the launch of the new PSR.

Debbie Seaton, chair of AMPS, said: “The new Pension Schemes Return is a material change from what providers are used to, so it was really helpful to have HMRC do a demonstration to our membership, some of who would have seen it for the first time.

“The increased data requirements will undoubtedly present some challenges to many of our members, and it is important that firms start to give some thought about how they are going to provide this data.”

There were a wide range of other topics discussed at the event, including the FCA’s consultation on the Advice Guidance Boundary Review, an update on the Pensions Dashboard through to crypto and bitcoin as pension scheme assets, and deepfake AI fraud.

Members were given an update from the Pension Scams Action Group and TPR, who said they want to work closely with the industry to tackle the issues of scams and bad actors, particularly in the SSAS market.

Representatives from insolvency and restructuring firm Kroll presented on the dangers of Deepfake AI, covering how AI is being used to impersonate third parties to extract data and cash from firms and customers.

Ms Seaton said: “We hope members found the day informative and that they were able to take away some golden nuggets to help with meeting the needs of their customers.”

AMPS is the main trade body that looks solely after self-invested pensions, known as member-directed pension schemes, such as Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) and Small Self Administered Schemes (SSASs).

AMPS has more than 120 member firms representing all parts of the industry: SIPP providers, SSAS practitioners, pension lawyers, software developers, banks and investment houses. Among its members are some of the largest pension providers but also some boutique firms.