In April this year, we published a code of practice and regulatory strategy to educate and enable scheme managers and pension board members to comply with new governance and administration legislation.
Today we have issued an additional policy which details how we will work with schemes to help them to comply with the new legislation, and how if necessary we will use our enforcement powers where schemes do not comply.
To view the policy go to compliance and enforcement policy for public service pension schemes.
We have an expanded role to regulate more than 200 public service schemes with assets of £226 billion in relation to the new governance and administration requirements.
We recognise the importance of good governance and administration, such as accurate record-keeping, in order to deliver the correct retirement savings to members of public service pension schemes. Equally, those responsible for these schemes should be able to rely on accurate data to properly calculate the cost of pensions.
Andrew Warwick-Thompson, our executive director for DC and public service pension schemes, said:
“Our new code of practice is designed to help public service scheme managers and pension boards comply with the law and deliver the high standards of governance and administration that we expect of them, and which are vital to ensure members receive the benefits they are owed, at the right time.
“We recognise that the reforms are significant and those involved with public service schemes face complex and challenging conditions and so we are working with them to help them to understand and embed the code. There may be some scheme managers and pension board members who will fail to comply with the duties because they have not fully understood them. In these cases, we will focus on working with schemes in the early stages of the new regulatory regime to help them become compliant. We have produced specific guidance through online education tools including e-learning modules.
“However, in situations where schemes do not fulfil their responsibilities to address non-compliance with the law, we will consider our enforcement options.”
Over the next 12 months, we intend to reinforce and reflect our expectations for public service pension schemes in the material we publish. This will take into account our ongoing work to understand the key areas of risk in public service schemes through the intelligence we gather in our regulatory activities.
We plan to carry out a governance and administration survey this summer to assess current standards and to monitor improvements year on year. In due course, thematic reviews will be undertaken, focusing on key risk areas, to gather information and report back to the regulated community on best practice.
The final version of the compliance and enforcement policy has been published following a period of consultation.
To help scheme managers and pension boards navigate and embed the code, we have developed a new public service section of our website.
to download An essential guide to the public service code
please click the link below
|
