Published: 25 October 2022
Deciding to use our enforcement powers
- Our overall approach to enforcement is shaped by:
- our statutory objectives
- the principles that our activities should be proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted (PACTT principles) as per the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006. We take a risk-based and proportionate approach to our objectives, targeting our resources according to the level of risk and intervening only to the extent necessary to address the harm or reduce the risk
- the expectation in the Regulator’s Code that we should support those we regulate, provide simple and straightforward ways to engage with them, base regulatory activities on risk, share information about compliance and risk, ensure clear guidance is available, and ensure our approach to regulatory activities is transparent
- the principles that sanctions should aim to change behaviour, aim to eliminate financial gain, be responsive and appropriate, be proportionate, aim to restore the harm caused and aim to deter future non-compliance
- whether we are trying to prevent harm, stop an ongoing breach, put right harm that has already been caused, reduce risk to member benefits or the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), deter behaviours or a combination of two or more of these
- First, we analyse the evidence we have gathered and the enforcement options available to us. We then determine what, if any, enforcement action is appropriate, based on the particular issues of the case, and what outcome(s) each different enforcement option might secure.
- We seek to use the most proportionate means to achieve the desired outcome, taking into account how long our enforcement action might take and competing priorities for use of our resources.