The Pensions Regulator

Last updated
The Pensions Regulator
Agency overview
Formed5 April 2005 (2005-04-05)
Preceding
  • Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority
HeadquartersTelecom House, 125-135 Preston Road, Brighton BN1 6AF, United Kingdom
Agency executives
  • Sarah Smart, Chair
  • Nausicaa Delfas, Chief Executive
Website thepensionsregulator.gov.uk

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is a non-departmental public body which regulates work-based pension schemes in the United Kingdom. Created under the Pensions Act 2004, the regulator replaced the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) from 6 April 2005 [1] and has wider powers and a new proactive and risk-based approach to regulation.

Contents

The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority was established by the Pensions Act 1995 and came into full operation on 6 April 1997. It replaced the Occupational Pensions Board as the regulator of occupational pensions in the UK. [2]

The Pensions Regulator has a clear set of objectives:

To meet these objectives The Pensions Regulator employs a risk-based approach, concentrating its resources on schemes which pose the greatest risk to the security of members’ benefits. The regulator also promotes high standards of scheme administration and works to ensure that those involved in running pension schemes have the necessary skills and knowledge.

David Norgrove was appointed the first chair of The Pensions Regulator in January 2005. After 2 terms, he was replaced by Michael O'Higgins (economist) in January 2011. Mark Boyle became Chair in 2014 and was reappointed for a second term. [3] Lesley Titcomb became chief executive in March 2015 [4] and was replaced by Charles Counsell in April 2019. [5] Mark Boyle stepped down in March 2021 and was replaced by Sarah Smart in April 2021, initially on an interim basis.

Recent high profile cases

Following the January 2018 collapse of construction and services company Carillion with extensive pension liabilities, The Pension Regulator faced calls that it should be scrapped and replaced by a new, more powerful body. [6] The "excoriating" [7] final report of the Parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of Carillion, published on 16 May 2018, described TPR as "feeble":

In June 2018, TPR's non-executive chairman, Mark Boyle, accepted the MPs' criticism but said the organisation's culture had changed to become clearer, quicker and tougher in its dealings with employers and pensions trustees. [8] On 25 June 2018, TPR announced it was considering issuing a contribution notice – a legally enforceable demand for a financial contribution to the pension deficit – against former Carillion directors. [9] [10]

TPR is using its powers more often and testing powers it has not used previously. In the courts, it has brought prosecutions against 23 individuals or organisations in 2017-2019 for failure to provide information, wilful noncompliance with automatic enrolment duties and recklessly providing false or misleading information to TPR, fraud and compute misuse.[ citation needed ]

In 2018, TPR engaged with a range of schemes that they were concerned were at risk of contagion as a result of the collapse of Carillion. It made use of available intelligence to target schemes covering liabilities of £85.5bn and more than 800,000 members.[ citation needed ]

In cases where TPR has initiated anti-avoidance action by issuing a Warning Notice it has recovered more than £1bn, often through the use of settlement, avoiding a costly litigation process.[ citation needed ]

In February 2017, TPR agreed a cash settlement worth up to £363 million with Sir Philip Green in relation to the BHS pension scheme. The arrangement, which gained the support of the trustees of the two BHS pension schemes, provided funding for a new independent pension scheme to give pensioners the option of the same starting pension as they were originally promised by BHS, and higher benefits than they would get from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). [11]

In December 2018, it was announced that Southern Water will pay more money into its pension scheme over a shorter recovery period following an investigation by TPR. TPR took action over what it felt was an imbalance between the funds contributed to the Southern Water Pension Scheme and the level of dividends paid to shareholders in 2016 and 2017. [12]

In June 2017, TPR agreed a £74 million settlement for a third defined benefit (DB) pension scheme as part of its anti-avoidance investigation into thread manufacturer Coats Group Plc (Coats). [13]

TPR's new approach

Through its TPR Future programme, TPR has completed a review of its entire approach to regulation and has started to implement a new regulatory model to drive up standards and tackle risk by engaging proactively with a larger proportion of the schemes and employers it regulates.

TPR's 'Making workplace pensions work' is a guide to its new way of operating. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pension</span> Retirement fund

A pension is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during the individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KPMG</span> Multinational professional services and accounting company firm

KPMG International Limited is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. The name "KPMG" stands for "Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler". The initialism was chosen when KMG merged with Peat Marwick in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pensions Act 1995</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Pensions Act 1995 is a piece of United Kingdom legislation to improve the running of pension schemes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universities Superannuation Scheme</span> Pension scheme for UK academic and related staff

The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with £89.6 billion under management as of August 2021. It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and academic-related staff mostly from those universities established prior to 1992. In 2006, it was the second largest private pension scheme in the UK by fund size. The headquarters of Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) are in Liverpool.

Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carillion</span> British construction company, 1999–2018

Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defined contribution plan</span> Type of retirement plan

A defined contribution (DC) plan is a type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts plus any investment earnings on the money in the account. In defined contribution plans, future benefits fluctuate on the basis of investment earnings. The most common type of defined contribution plan is a savings and thrift plan. Under this type of plan, the employee contributes a predetermined portion of his or her earnings to an individual account, all or part of which is matched by the employer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial Reporting Council</span> Regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. The FRC seeks to promote transparency and integrity in business by aiming its work at investors and others who rely on company reports, audits and high-quality risk management.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is a statutory corporation, set up by the Pensions Act 2004, and has been protecting members of eligible defined benefit (DB) pension schemes across the United Kingdom since 2005. It protects close to 10 million members belonging to more than 5,200 pension schemes across the UK. If an employer collapses and its DB pension scheme cannot pay members what they were promised, the PPF will pay compensation for their lost pensions. Despite being a public body, the PPF is not funded by the government or the taxpayers. It has four sources of funding including an annual levy charged to all the eligible pension schemes under its protection, income from its investments, assets from the schemes that transfer into the fund and recoveries, including money and other assets, from the insolvent employers of the schemes that transfer into the fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pensions Act 2004</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Pensions Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to improve the running of pension schemes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ros Altmann</span> UK pensions expert and campaigner

Rosalind Miriam Altmann, Baroness Altmann, is a British life peer, leading UK pensions expert, and political campaigner. She was appointed to the House of Lords following the 2015 general election as a Conservative, but describes her work both before and after the election as being politically independent, championing ordinary people and social justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority</span>

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a European Union financial regulatory institution that replaced the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS). It is established under EU Regulation 1094/2010.

The National Pension System (NPS) is a defined-contribution pension system in India regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. National Pension System Trust was established by PFRDA as per the provisions of the Indian Trusts Act of 1882 for taking care of the assets and funds under this scheme for the best interest of the subscriber.

Philip Nevill Green CBE is a British business executive. He was chairman of Carillion from May 2014 until Carillion entered compulsory liquidation in January 2018. Green was chairman of BakerCorp from June 2011 until December 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio Mantegazza</span>

Sergio Mantegazza is a Swiss-Italian billionaire businessman, chairman and owner of Globus, a multinational travel company. According to Forbes, Mantegazza is the 16th richest person in Switzerland, with an estimated net worth of US$2.5 billion as of April 2019.

A master trust in the UK is a multi-employer occupational pension scheme.

NOW: Pensions is the 3rd biggest master trust in the UK serving over 1.7 million employees.

Smart Pension is a pensions and retirement technology business, delivering pensions technology platforms in partnership with other financial institutions, and running a defined contribution master trust pension scheme setup for employers to enrol employees in a workplace pension scheme.

Lesley Jane Titcomb was the chief executive of The Pensions Regulator from March 2015 to February 2019. Titcomb was previously chief operating officer and a board member of the Financial Conduct Authority.

Richard Adam is an English chartered accountant and businessman particularly associated with the financial management of media, construction and property-related companies. He was a board director of construction and services business Carillion from April 2007 to December 2016. After the company went into liquidation in January 2018, Adam was criticised by a Parliamentary select committees report, and the Financial Reporting Council and other regulators started investigations into his conduct. In July 2023, Adam was disqualified from acting as a director of a company for 12.5 years.

References

  1. ↑ "Annual report" (PDF). www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk. 17 December 2004 – 31 March 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 2, 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  2. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack; 1998; p. 331
  3. ↑ "Chair of the Pensions Regulator re-appointed". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  4. ↑ "Lesley Titcomb announced as new Chief Executive of The Pensions Regulator". thepensionsregulator.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "TPR appoints Charles Counsell as new Chief Executive". The Pensions Regulator. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  6. ↑ Williams, Christopher (15 May 2018). "MPs call for pensions watchdog to be scrapped over Carillion failings". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  7. ↑ Davies, Rob (16 May 2018). "'Recklessness, hubris and greed' – Carillion slammed by MPs". Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  8. ↑ Cumbo, Josephine (21 June 2018). "Pensions Regulator admits faults over Carillion crisis". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "TPR could go after Carillion's former directors "for everything they've got"". www.parliament.uk. Work and Pensions select committee. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  10. ↑ Morby, Aaron (25 June 2018). "Carillion bosses could be landed with pension bill". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  11. ↑ "The Pensions Regulator secures £363m cash settlement with Sir Philip Green". The Pensions Regulator. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  12. ↑ "Southern Water will pay £50m more into pension with accelerated payments following TPR investigation". The Pensions Regulator. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  13. ↑ "TPR reaches final settlement in Coats anti-avoidance case". The Pensions Regulator. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  14. ↑ "TPR Future". The Pensions Regulator. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.