Updated guidance to help those making third-party applications, including those to appoint an independent trustee (IT), has been published by The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
Trustees are the first line of defence for savers. But where trustees fail in their duties, applications can be made to TPR to appoint an IT to keep savers safe.
The decision to appoint an IT, and to use certain other third-party application powers, sits with the Determinations Panel (DP), a committee of TPR that operates separately and makes decisions independently.
Other types of third-party applications include, for example, waiving trustee disqualifications, or revoking a prohibition order.
Those able to make these applications will depend on the power being considered but may include trustees, scheme managers and sponsoring employers of pension schemes.
These applications can be made to TPR, which assigns a case team to help present them to the DP.
TPR today updated its guidance to help applicants know what information to supply so that their applications can be assessed as swiftly and effectively as possible.
The guidance includes links to bespoke application forms and explains the roles of the applicant, TPR’s case team and the DP. It also highlights it is the applicant’s responsibility to prove in their application that the relevant power should be used.
Gaucho Rasmussen, TPR’s Executive Director of Regulatory Compliance, said: “We can use a range of powers to help protect savers' pensions, but when people ask us to step in, we need evidence it is in the interests of members and those directly affected.
"If you are making an application to us, we hope by following our guidance the process will be as smooth as possible.”
The time taken to reach a DP decision can vary depending on the facts of each case, but TPR’s case team will provide applicants with a timescale following a review of the application and set out whether further information is needed from applicants and the next steps.
Notes for editors
- TPR is the regulator of work-based pension schemes in the UK. Its statutory objectives are to:
- protect members’ benefits
- reduce the risk of calls on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF)
- promote, and to improve understanding of, the good administration of work-based pension schemes
- maximise employer compliance with automatic enrolment duties
- minimise any adverse impact on the sustainable growth of an employer (in relation to the exercise of the regulator’s functions under Part 3 of the Pensions Act 2004 only)
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