A draft statutory instrument has been published following the Budget and is set to be laid before Parliament this autumn.

Although a date has not been disclosed for implementation once the regulations are approved by Parliament they should become law within 21 days.

A ban could be in place by Christmas with a maximum fine of £500,000. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will be the enforcing body.

A wider ban on text and email cold contacts has been ruled out for the time being by the Treasury because other regulations already cover these areas.

However the Treasury says that the cold calling ban will be part of a "suite" of preventative measures designed to tackle pension fraud.

The statuory instrument will make pensions cold calling illegal.

In its report on consultation on the ban the Treasury says: "Pension scams can have devastating consequences, such as the loss of an entire pension fund. On top of this, the chances of recovering these savings are very low, leaving most victims without the means to fund their retirement.

"Cold calling is the most common method used to initiate pension fraud. The serious consumer detriment caused by pensions scams means that the government has chosen to intervene directly to implement a pensions cold calling ban.