29th September 2016

The Pensions Regulator - Industry Liaison update September 2016

Phasing of contributions

The new regulations, amending the dates the minimum pension contribution increases take place, have now been passed by Parliament – Phase 2 on 6 April 2018 and Phase 3 on 6 April 2019.

• Trustee Chair Statements and AE scheme compliance with charge controls

In August, TPR reported that it had fined a professional trustee for failure to prepare a Trustee Chair Statement. Trustees of pension schemes (including master trusts) are reminded that there is a mandatory requirement to prepare the Trustee Chair Statement or face a mandatory fine of between £500 to £2,000.

There is also a requirement to confirm that where a scheme is being used for Automatic Enrolment purposes it also meets the charge controls. Further details can be found in the ‘Restrictions on costs and charges’ section of our guide on ‘Value for members’ here.

• Have you seen the recent updates to TPR’s website?

Over the past few months we have been making changes to our website. In particular, these items are new or have been revised:

–      Examples of letters and emails we sent to employers pre and post staging

–      Guidance on choosing a pension scheme

–      Re-enrolment guidance for employers

–      New information on postponement

–      Information on seasonal workers

There is also information on how we enforce compliance …

–      Automatic enrolment use of powers June 2016

… and more information about what we expect from DC Pension Schemes …

–      Revised DC code

–      Six new ‘How to’ guides for trustees

• Extended ‘AE refresher’ webinar – with Q&A

Join us at 2pm on 6 October, where we will be covering the basics of AE for everyone – and as a refresher for those who’ve been working on AE for their clients for a while.
The webinar will include the latest updates, a brief overview of re-enrolment duties, compliance figures and new online information and guidance that will help you and your clients. We’ll also have two Q&A sessions with our expert panel.

Register here

• Events

The industry liaison team continues to speak at events across the UK and, whilst many of these focus on the main employer duties for automatic enrolment (including the new regulations from April 2016), we are also able to cover a range of other subjects relating to the legislation such as: 

• Re-enrolment (cyclical and immediate)
• Compliance & enforcement
• Myths and misunderstandings quiz
• Providing AE services as a non-regulated business adviser
• The employer journey, including completing the duties checker
• Choosing a pension scheme and factors to consider, including tax relief
• Sector specific events, for example, for care professionals.

If you would like us to come and speak (free of charge) at an event, please complete the online request form, and please put in my name as the proposed speaker, so that the request comes directly to our team.

Pensions