The Government must bring in new pension legislation to plug regulatory gaps that put the savings of “many thousands of people at risk”, The Work and Pensions Select Committee says.

Frank Field MP, the Work and Pensions Select Committee Chair, has written to George Osborne, urging action in the upcoming session of Parliament.

He made the move after the committee’s automatic enrolment inquiry “heard concerning evidence”.

This was regarding “gaps in the regulatory framework that have allowed potentially unstable master trusts onto the market”, Mr Field said.

He wrote: “Our evidence suggests that this could put the retirement savings of many thousands of people at risk.

“The committee’s inquiry into the Pension Protection Fund and pensions regulation, which is using BHS as a case study, is similarly encountering concerns over the range and effectiveness of powers available to both the Regulator and fund trustees with regards to occupational pension funds.

“The Minister for Pensions told us in March that she had been pressing colleagues in Government for a Pensions Bill. The DWP confirmed that it has undertaken the necessary preparations for legislation. Might you therefore consider please lending your support to the inclusion of a Pensions Bill in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech?”

The Committee is examining:

• The adequacy of defined benefit pension scheme regulation and regulatory powers, in general and specifically in relation to the pension schemes of complex and multi-national companies
• Use of these powers by The Pensions Regulator in recent cases, including BHS
• Resourcing and prioritisation of TPR supervisory work
• Implications of the regulatory approach for company behaviour, including whether it mitigates or incentivises moral hazard
• The sustainability of the Pension Protection Fund
• The fairness of the PPF levy system and its impact on businesses and scheme members

Today is the first session in the joint inquiries into BHS, focusing on the BHS pension fund, currently running a £571 million deficit. The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee is working with the Work and Pensions Committee.

The committees are questioning whether pension regulation is adequate in the face of a situation like this, and what the impact covering a liability of this size will have on the Pension Protection Fund and all the other companies that subscribe to it.

Mr Field said: "A major aim of the Work and Pensions Committee representatives on Monday will be to test how adequately both organisations have carried out their duties to help protect members’ pensions under the existing law, whether the existing law is inadequate and if so how should it be strengthened, or whether existing powers are adequate but were not fully exercised."