24 November 2014
Legal action by The Pensions Regulator has put a stop to five connected pension ‘liberation’ schemes that received transfers totalling more than £134 million from over 1,400 individuals.
The announcement explains that the regulator was concerned that the schemes were established with the main purpose of providing a cash payment to the member rather than providing retirement benefits and that this constituted misuse or misappropriation of pension scheme monies. The schemes operated according to complex arrangements that purportedly enabled funds to be ‘lent’ to the member via a company under the member’s control, which would become their employer under one of the schemes. The member could then use the money as they wished. The schemes sought to allow members to access their pension funds as cash through a supposed legal ‘loophole’. In May 2014, the High Court ruled that this supposed gap in the law did not exist, finding in the regulator’s favour on three preliminary legal issues.
Changes to The Pensions Regulator website
26 November 2014
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have made some changes to their website and are seeking feedback.
TPR report that they have made some changes to their website, including renaming their ‘pensions professionals’ section in response to feedback from IFAs, accountants and bookkeepers.
They are inviting readers to say us what they think about this – as well as thoughts on the new homepage design. You can visit the prototype website and add your comments here .
Pension scheme list consultation launched
26 November 2014
The Pensions Regulator is consulting over plans to publish a list of pension schemes to help small and micro employers prepare for automatic enrolment.
Research by the regulator suggests one in five (290,000) employers in this category will not seek advice when choosing a pension scheme, while one in ten (130,000) do not know how to select a scheme, or think it will be difficult. To address the risk of non-compliance caused by employers failing to find an available scheme for staff, the regulator is consulting on their proposal to publish a list of schemes on its website early in 2015. The TPR announcement explains that schemes on the list will have to meet key criteria: in particular they must accept any employer irrespective of how many staff they have or how much they pay. The list may also indicate whether a scheme holds independent master trust assurance and / or has a public service obligation.
Providers will be required to ensure schemes continue to meet the criteria while the regulator will remove schemes if regulatory concerns arise.
CIPP Policy News Journal
08/04/2015, Page 408 of 521
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