Pensions Regulator meaning

THIS CHECKLIST APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL AND PERSONAL PENSION SCHEMES Is there a requirement to consult employees? Confirm if the scheme operates as a trust-based occupational pension arrangement. Determine whether there are 50 or more employees. Establish if the employer is an excluded employer. Ascertain whether the proposal involves a change that triggers consultation. Consider if the change is to comply with statute (eg age discrimination legislation). Evaluate whether the alteration has a lasting impact on members' benefits. If unsure whether consultation is required, consider checking with the Pensions Regulator. Identify whether there are any affected members. If swift action is necessary (eg to avoid the risk of insolvency), contact the Pensions Regulator to request a waiver of the consultation requirement...

THIS CHECKLIST APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This checklist highlights the key actions involved in bringing an occupational pension scheme to a close—whether a defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) arrangement—and aligns with winding-up guidance from the Pensions Regulator (TPR). For fuller detail on these steps, see Practice Notes: Winding up a defined benefit (DB) occupational pension scheme; Winding up a defined contribution (DC) occupational pension scheme; and Winding-up an occupational pension scheme—statutory disclosure from 6 April 2014, reporting and record-keeping requirements. Data cleansing and reconciling records Once trustees decide to wind up the scheme, they should carry out a thorough data cleansing exercise. As this can be lengthy, it should, where practicable, be completed before formal winding-up starts. Where trustees cannot control the timing of the wind-up, cleansing and planning should begin as early as possible within the winding-up process. As part of the data cleansing exercise, trustees should: Check and reconcile member records. Where the scheme is a former contracted-out...

STOP PRESS: A major, wide-ranging overhaul of the UK listing framework took effect on 29 July 2024, abolishing the premium and standard listing segments and introducing a unified category for equity shares of commercial companies. That commercial companies category is strongly disclosure-led and sits alongside other listing categories, including the shell companies, secondary listing and closed ended investment fund categories. A new UK Listing Rules sourcebook commenced to deliver these reforms, and the previous Listing Rules sourcebook was withdrawn at the same time. For more detail, see Practice Note: Reform of the UK listing regime—fundamentals for guidance. This Checklist represents the listing regime as it existed before 29 July 2024. A limited company may acquire its own shares if certain conditions set out in the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) are satisfied under that statute. This is commonly referred to as a share buyback or a purchase of own shares. In addition to the provisions of the CA 2006, further rules and guidelines are relevant to a listed company...

In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Decision to prosecute and alternatives to prosecution Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Food safety and hygiene offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct Whistleblowing in the UK—Still a long road ahead Rahman Ravelli’s legal director, Dr Angelika Hellweger, together with associate, Tatiana Novikova, examine how the UK handles whistleblowing. They map out the present UK statutory position and other relevant mechanisms, assess the scope of the safeguards they afford, and set these against the options open to whistleblowers in the United States of America. They also describe the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) whistleblower reward initiative announced near the end of 2025,...

ACA chair Stewart Hastie said the trade body backs the Labour government’s January 2025 proposal enabling companies that sponsor defined benefit pension arrangements to draw down substantial surpluses. He urged Pensions Minister Torsten Bell to deliver a pragmatic and successful new regime for defined benefit surplus release. Hastie stressed that pension trustees must remain central to the process, but that the necessary detail — including a new regulator code — should arrive sooner rather than later and underpin a practical approach if the behavioural shift sought is to be achieved...

According to the FCA's figures, 41,500 individuals accessed their pensions for lump-sum withdrawals in the last financial year, up 14.6% from 36,200 a year earlier, the watchdog said. At the same time, the FCA noted a 13.6% slide in annuity sales, falling to 59,100 over the last financial year from 68,500 the year before, according to the regulator. The regulator also reported that transfers from defined benefit to defined contribution schemes decreased, dropping to 18,073 in the financial year ending March 2023 from 26,619 in the preceding year...

The Pensions Regulator (the Regulator) The Regulator is an arm’s-length public body set up under the Pensions Act 2004 (PeA 2004). Its authority to impose contribution notices and financial support directions appears in PeA 2004, ss 38–50. Although the Act does not use the label, these provisions are widely known as the Regulator’s ‘moral hazard’ powers. Their purpose is to counter the ‘moral hazard’ arising from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF): the possibility that corporate groups might organise their structures so as to heighten exposure within their pension schemes, comfortable that the PPF would intervene if the employer entered insolvency. The principal moral hazard tools—and the only ones exercised so far—are the power to issue a contribution notice (CN) and the power to issue a financial support direction (FSD). A CN compels the recipient to pay a specified amount into a defined benefit occupational pension scheme. A CN can be issued where the criteria in PeA 2004, s 38 are satisfied. These mechanisms exist to deter behaviour that would...

The Pensions Regulator’s scheme management enforcement strategy explains its approach to compliance and enforcement across defined benefits funding, defined contribution and public service pension schemes, while also describing the outcomes TPR may pursue and the means by which it could achieve them, all to strengthen safety and security for pension savers. Its prosecution policy and broader enforcement strategy set out the principal aims of its enforcement activity and give insight into the framework TPR applies when deciding which cases to take forward for enforcement action. Initial considerations in TPR investigations In its capacity as the UK regulator for work-based pension schemes, TPR has a suite of information-gathering powers to identify and track risks and to obtain evidence to support criminal prosecutions. These include: requiring reports of breaches of the law and notifiable events requiring reports prepared by skilled persons on specified issues compelling trustees and employers to provide documents and other information the power to inspect premises For more...

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES ONLY TO DEFINED BENEFIT OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES When performing its functions, the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator follows two distinct procedural pathways that must be observed, and must be followed at all times. These two sequences are known as the Standard Procedure and the Special Procedure. the Standard Procedure the Special Procedure As a reserved regulatory function of the Pensions Regulator, issuing a contribution notice or a financial support direction may only be carried out by the Determinations Panel using the Standard Procedure. The Special Procedure is adopted where there is a need to invoke the Regulator’s powers without delay to safeguard members’ interests or scheme assets. This route does not extend to contribution notices or financial support directions. For more detail on the Special Procedure, see The Pensions Regulator’s Determinations Panel—The Regulator’s procedures for exercising its functions. For additional information about the Panel, see Practice Note: The Pensions Regulator’s Determinations Panel. Stages of...

Note: these due diligence questions are prepared for the buyer and are broadly framed. Not every question will be pertinent to each pension scheme. In practice, they should be tailored as required to reflect the circumstances of the specific transaction (and relevant pension schemes). Note: the meanings of ‘Business’ and ‘Seller’ in this questionnaire are intended to mirror the definitions in the sale and purchase agreement for the business the buyer is acquiring. In an asset sale, the buyer will not usually take on the seller’s pension scheme. 1 Pensions 1.1 Please list: (a) all pension schemes to which the Seller is currently paying contributions (or would be but for a contributions holiday) or in which the Seller participates; (b) all life assurance schemes and/or other comparable protection schemes; (c) any former pension schemes of the Seller that applied before the existing schemes...

Practice Note: TUPE—what pension benefits should the transferee provide? The Pensions Regulator, in its auto-enrolment guidance 2, indicates that when a TUPE transfer occurs, employees who move across are regarded as new joiners of the incoming employer (the transferee)...

We proceed on the basis that the pension scheme in question is a defined benefit scheme and that the former MND is a member. Whether the former MND should first contest the outcome of the MND election through the pension scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure, or complain straight to the Pensions Regulator, depends on the nature and seriousness of the breach...