Regulatory round-up – we give you the highlights from TPR and the PPF this quarter
Published on 16th Jun 2015
- Auto-enrolment: TPR’s quarterly compliance report on auto-enrolment shows a surge in the number of penalty notices issued to employers who have not complied with their auto-enrolment duties in the first quarter of 2015. This is likely to be because smaller employers are now reaching their staging dates and have less resources to ensure they are fully compliant. TPR has updated its detailed auto-enrolment guidance notes to take account of various changes that came into effect on 1 April 2015. These include changes to the requirements on information to be given to workers, and new exceptions to the employer auto-enrolment duty for certain types of worker, including those workers who benefit from lifetime allowance charge transitional protection.
- Desmond: s. 89 report confirms settlement. This is a long running case in which the Desmond & Sons pension scheme’s sole employer went into liquidation, causing TPR’s Determinations Panel to decide to issue contribution notices (CNs) against two targets, Mr Desmond and Mr Gordon. This has lead to various pieces of litigation challenging this and dealing with related issues. TPR has now issued a section 89 report revealing that it has settled the matter and no CNs will be issued. The agreement involves Mr Desmond paying an amount into the scheme, the amount of which is not disclosed.
- TPR public sector governance: TPR has set out its approach to how it will assess and enforce compliance with the new governance and administration requirements on public-sector pension schemes introduced by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. This follows a consultation which concluded on 5 March 2015. Click here to review the new policy.
- 2015 DC scheme return form updated: TPR has updated its scheme return form for occupational DC schemes. It will include a question on compliance with the charges cap, and requiring affected schemes to give the name of the chair of the trustees, a new requirement under the governance and charge regulations recently introduced for DC schemes.
- 2015 DC scheme return form updated: TPR has updated its scheme return form for occupational DC schemes. It will include a question on compliance with the charges cap, and requiring affected schemes to give the name of the chair of the trustees, a new requirement under the governance and charge regulations recently introduced for DC schemes.
- TPR warns trustees to prioritise record-keeping: TPR has published a follow-up report to its 2014 thematic review of record-keeping. This assesses whether schemes are meeting TPR’s record-keeping targets. The report highlights that there is still much to do, particularly in small schemes which continue to fall behind large schemes in the measurement of common data. TPR reiterates that good record-keeping standards must be a priority for trustees.
- Suspension of pension trustees: TPR continues to use its powers to suspend and prohibit trustees from acting. In this example TPR intervened following serious concerns that the Scheme may have been a vehicle for pensions liberation fraud. The initial trustee suspensions were made from May 2013 to May 2014, and have just been renewed for a further twelve months.
- PPF updates levy appeal guidance for challenges to Experian insolvency scores: The PPF has published new FAQ answers and updated guidance to assist schemes who wish to challenge their Experian insolvency scoring, used to calculate a scheme’s risk-based levy. This is the first levy year based on the new PPF-specific insolvency scoring system, produced for the PPF by Experian.
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