FOI reference - FOI-124
Date - 16 June 2023
Request
I would be interested in some summary statistics from the latest available TPR scheme return and the scheme return 5 and 10 years prior to the latest available (where this data is available).
- Under part 5 of the scheme return, please can you provide the number of member-nominated trustees listed across all DB or hybrid schemes at these 3 dates?
- Under part 5 of the scheme return, please can you provide the number of DB or hybrid schemes with a single professional corporate trustee at these 3 dates?
If it is possible within the expense limit to breakdown the information under 2. by firm (where the number of schemes attributed to a firm is > 10) that would be appreciated as our area of interest is non-sole traders offering sole trusteeship i.e. mid to large size professional trustee firms operating as sole trustees.
Response
I confirm that we hold some of the information you have requested. However, some of the information you have requested is exempt from disclosure.
Information that we are able to supply
The information we have been able to provide is shown in the tables below.
The source for this data is TPR's records, based on the information received directly from the schemes in response to the mandatory annual scheme return. Data is not weighted or imputed to account for non-response to the survey. Schemes included are DB and Hybrid private occupational schemes and schemes excluded are gone-away schemes and schemes with less than 2 members. This data was as of TPR records on 01/04/23; 01/04/18 and 01/04/13 containing information from the scheme return of that year.
The data is collected at a scheme level, therefore if a trustee is affiliated to more than one scheme, they will be counted multiple times in our response to the first question.
For the second question you should be aware the questions asked in our scheme return changed between 2013 and 2018 so please use caution when comparing the data across years.
Member-nominated trustees
| Year | Total number of member nominated trustees for DB/Hybrid schemes |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 6636 |
| 2018 | 4858 |
| 2023 | 2284 |
Corporate Professional trustees
| Year | Total number of DB/Hybrid schemes with only one trustee who is a corporate professional trustee |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 812 |
| 2018 | 952 |
| 2023 | 393 |
Information that we are not able to supply
We have not been able to provide a breakdown of question 2 as identifying scheme names and any firm associated to schemes is not permitted.
As we have been given strong powers to demand documents and other information from trustees, employers and others, those powers are also balanced by restrictions on how we disclose the information provided to us. The type of information you have requested would be ‘restricted information’. Restricted information is defined at section 82(4) of the Pensions Act 2004 (PA04) 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 is a criminal offence to disclose such information except as permitted under that Act.
Whilst the 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 and we are unable to disclose the requested information. This exemption is absolute and does not require a public interest assessment be undertaken.