Company pension schemes

Trustees must be kept informed

As an employer, you are responsible for providing the trustees of your company pension scheme and their advisers with the information that they need to carry out their duties.

The Pensions Regulator has a set of specific objectives:

• to protect the benefits of members of work-based pension schemes;
• to promote good administration of work-based pension schemes; and
• to reduce the risk of situations arising that may lead to claims for compensation from the Pension Protection Fund.

In order to identify and reduce the risk to members’ benefits, the Pensions Regulator requires a range of information about pension schemes and employers. If you provide a scheme, as an employer, you must:

Provide any updates to your scheme, for instance a change in membership numbers;

Complete a scheme return - this provides a wide range of information about schemes, including details of membership, sponsoring employers, trustees, advisers, administration, funding and investment.

Ensure that trustees have sufficient information about your company to be able to provide up-to-date, accurate details to the regulator.

• Pay employees’ contributions to the scheme within 19 days from the end of the month in which they were deducted from pay;
• Pay your own contributions in line with the schedule of contributions; and
• Advise of any delays, for example with paying contributions.

If you fail to pay contributions as described above, and the failure is likely to be materially significant, the Pensions Regulator will expect to receive a report from the trustees or scheme managers. As an employer, you will need to liaise with trustees in a number of areas.

If you do not yet provide a pension scheme, it is important also to check if you are legally required to offer one to your employees. The Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 requires employers to offer their relevant employees access to at least a stakeholder pension scheme, unless they are exempt.

It is also vital for trustees to have access to a basis of pension’s knowledge as they must be able to demonstrate that they have the knowledge and understanding required to carry out their role effectively.

Where scheme trustees are also your employees, you must give them sufficient paid time off during working hours to carry out their duties as trustees and undertake trustee training.

The Pensions Regulator has a range of powers that enables them to meet their objectives. Their powers fall into three broad categories:

• Investigating schemes
• Putting things right
• Acting against avoidance

The Pensions Regulator’s codes of practice and guidance give practical guidelines on the requirements of pension’s legislation. The codes set out the standards of conduct and practice expected of those involved in running and providing pension schemes. Those standards reflect how a well-run pension scheme would choose to meet the relevant requirements.