FOI ref - FOI-257
Date - 1 May 2024
Request
I am writing to request a copy of your records under the FOI Act.
- A list of pension schemes investing in collective investments schemes via a unit linked long term contract of insurance.
- A breakdown of alternative allocation for the top twenty defined-contribution providers’ default fund (private equity/private debt/infrastructure/real estate).
- How many schemes invest into private markets through the following three routes: long term asset funds (LTAF), professional open-ended investment funds, unit-linked life policies.
Response
I confirm that we hold some of the information you've requested. However, the information you've requested is exempt from disclosure.
Parts 1 and 2 of your request
TPR has been given strong powers to demand documents and other information from trustees, employers and others where necessary. Those powers are also balanced by restrictions on how we disclose the information provided to us.
The types of information we'd need to disclose in response to parts 1 and 2 of your request would be 'restricted information.' Section 82(4) of the Pensions Act 2004 (PA04) defines restricted information as 'information obtained by the Regulator in the exercise of its functions which relates to the business or other affairs of any person.'
Under section 82(5) of the PA04, it's a criminal offence to disclose such information except where it's permitted under that Act.
While the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) is based on the presumption of releasing information, section 44(1)(a) of the FoIA provides an absolute exemption to the requirement to disclose any information if its disclosure is prohibited by or under any enactment. In this case, section 82 of the PA04 prohibits disclosure. We're therefore not able to disclose the information you've requested. This exemption is absolute and does not require undertaking a public interest assessment.
Part 3 of your request
Regarding part 3 of your request, under section 12 of the FoIA public authorities are not obliged to comply with a request for information where the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit in the Fees Regulations 1, which, for us, is set at £450. Staff costs are fixed at £25 per person per hour. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether we hold the information, locating, retrieving, and extracting it.
I can confirm that we hold some of the information you've requested. However, in line with section 12 of the FoIA, we're not able to provide you this information. This is because it would take us more than the applicable time limit to:
- determine whether the appropriate material is held
- locate, retrieve and extract that information
Please find below a detailed explanation of the reason for this exemption.
Incidental collection of information
TPR does not systematically collect the information you've requested. While it's possible that some relevant information may be contained within documents during various regulatory activities, this information is gathered incidentally - not with the specific intention of tracking investment allocations into private markets. As such, occurrences of this information being captured are rare and unpredictable.
Inconsistent reporting
Schemes might document allocations to private markets in various documents, for example SIPs. However, these documents rarely detail the methods of access to these investments. Reporting on this type of information is not standard practice.
Variable reporting formats
Where schemes do include this kind of information, its format and clarity can be unpredictable. This makes it difficult to identify without thorough review.
Identification process
Extracting the information you've requested would require manually reviewing each scheme. This would involve reading through entire documents to identify relevant details, process that could take between 10 minutes to an hour per document if the information is present.
Verifying the absence of the information requested would require even more time. Conducting this search across potentially thousands of schemes would require a significant allocation of time and resources, likely amounting to multiple hours per scheme.
Limited utility of extracted information
Even if we identified the information you've requested for a few schemes, any data we'd collected would be insufficient for a comprehensive answer. We cannot accurately comment on most schemes that do not report this information.
In summary
Having carefully considered your request, we're not able to provide any of the requested information within the appropriate cost limit. We also do not believe we can modify your request to bring it within this cost limit.