This update provides information about our cases and the powers we have used. It is designed to help employers, their advisers, trustees and administrators understand the type of compliance and enforcement interventions we undertake.
Our approach is based on preventing problems developing in the first place by being clear about our expectations and we have a range of educational materials for all members of our regulated community. These include online resources for employers and their advisers to help them through automatic enrolment (AE), the Trustee toolkit, guidance on scams, and information on other areas including funding and investment, scheme governance and record-keeping.
Selected powers used for frontline regulation
| Power | Description | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustee appointments | The power to appoint trustees to schemes (a) to secure that the trustees as a whole have, or exercise, the necessary knowledge and skill for the proper administration of the scheme, (b) to secure the proper use or application of the assets of the scheme, and/or (c) otherwise to protect the interests of the generality of the members of the scheme. | 0 | 60 |
| The power to appoint trustees to schemes to secure that the number of trustees is sufficient for the proper administration of the scheme under Section 7(3)(b) of the Pensions Act 1995. | 111 | 4,122 | |
| Power to vest or transfer property as a consequence of appointing or removing a trustee under Section 9 of the Pensions Act 1995. | 0 | 35 | |
| Trustee suspensions | The power to suspend a trustee either (a) whilst we are considering making a prohibition order against them, or (b) if proceedings have been issued against them for an offence involving dishonesty or deception, or (c) pending consideration being given to the institution of proceedings for an offence involving dishonesty or deception. | 0 | 19 |
| Power to extend the period of suspension | 0 | 15 | |
| Trustee prohibitions | Power to make a prohibition order under Section 3 of the Pensions Act 1995. | 1 | 22 |
| Special Procedure | Where TPR considers that there would be an immediate risk to members interests or scheme assets if a warning notice were to be issued. | 0 | 32 |
| Mandatory penalty notice | The Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015 require us to issue a mandatory penalty where no chair’s statement has been prepared or we are of the opinion that the statement does not comply with the requirements prescribed for a chair’s statement in the Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations 1996. | 22 | 965 |
| Scheme return enforcement | Trustees have a legal obligation to give us information about their pension scheme by completing a scheme return when required, and an ongoing duty to ensure our records are maintained with up-to-date registrable information. A financial penalty under Section 10 of the Pensions Act 1995 may be imposed for this failing. | 0 | 250 |
| Audited accounts enforcement | Trustees or scheme managers of most schemes are legally required to obtain audited accounts annually, within seven months of the scheme year end. Failure to do so may result in a financial penalty. | 0 | 4 |
| Information gathering | Our formal information gathering powers under Section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004. | 19 | 978 |
| Regulatory intervention reports | Section 89 of the Pensions Act 2004 gives us the power to publish information on cases where we have exercised or considered exercising our powers. | 2* | 81 |
| Clearance | A statement that we will not use our anti-avoidance powers to issue a) contribution notice or b) financial notice or c) both [1] in relation to a defined benefit occupational pension scheme | 0 | 70 |
| Inspection and warrants | Statutory inspection powers under Sections 73 to 78 of the Pensions Act 2004. | 0 | 6 |
| Production order | A High Court Order under Section 345 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring the production of specified material | 3 | 108 |
| Provision of information by interested party. Section 18(A) Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. | 0 | 4 | |
| Confiscation order | A Crown Court Order under Section 6(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring a convicted defendant pay a sum of money representing the benefit from their offending. | 0 | 2 |
| Restitution order | A High Court Order under Section 16 of the Pensions Act 2004 requiring a person to put right a misuse or misappropriation of pension scheme assets in which they were involved. | 0 | 4 |
| Restraint order | A High Court Order under Section 41(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring the restraint of assets. | 0 | 3 |
| Criminal | Fraud by Abuse of Position under Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006 | 0 | 8 |
| Restriction on Employer Related Investments under Section 40 of the Pensions Act 1995 | 0 | 9 | |
| Improvement/third party notice | Notices containing directions for a person to take steps to enable compliance with pensions legislation or remedy any non-compliance. | 0 | 17 |
| Regulated apportionment arrangement | The application, subject to conditions, to separate a scheme from its employer. It must be approved by us and the PPF must confirm that they do not object to the RAA. | 0 | 7 |
| Master trusts [2] | Add a scheme to the list of authorised Master Trust schemes under Section 13 of the Pension Schemes Act 2017 |
0 | 39 |
| Removing a scheme from the list of authorised Master Trust schemes | 2 | 2 | |
| Confirm a triggering event notified by a Master Trust has been resolved | 18 | 100 | |
| Other Master Trust powers | 5 | 75 | |
| Other [2] | Various other powers | 8 | 94 |
| Total | 191 | 7,131 | |
Review of statutory notices for frontline regulation
If a trustee or other recipient disagrees with the issuing of a Statutory Notice issued under the 2015 Regulations – for example for failing to prepare a chair’s statement or exceeding the charge cap – they can apply for a ‘review’ of that decision. We set out the right of review in all notices, as well as how to apply for a review. An application for a review must be made within 28 days from when the notice was first issued.
We appoint a review officer, who is someone not previously involved with the case, to carry out the review. We will usually complete the review within 10 working days of the written notification that the application has been accepted and that a review will be carried out. If this is not possible, we will contact the applicant(s) and let them know when they can expect us to make a decision.
| Reviews | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Requested | 1 | 169 |
| Completed | 0 | 169 |
| Outcome of reviews | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | 0 | 36 |
| Revoked, substituted or varied | 0 | 122 |
Footnotes for this section
- * For this bulletin, originally the number of s89 powers showed the number of pension schemes related to the publications. This has now been corrected to 2 publications in the period.
- [1] The power is executed twice.
- [2] We have restructured the Master Trust section of the powers list for transparency, to separately show the number of powers relating to triggering events and the removal of master trusts from the authorised list. Due to the relatively low number of these powers at an annual level, these were previously included in the ‘Other’ section.
Automatic enrolment
Automatic enrolment cases closed in the period
| Cases closed in the period: | 47,791 |
|---|---|
| Cases closed to date[3]: | 722,544 |
Selected powers used in the period
| Power | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Information notice | 67 | 2,135 |
| Inspection | 107 | 2,290 |
| Warrant | 0 | 4 |
| Compliance notice | 29,489 | 381,306 |
| Unpaid contributions notice | 17,451 | 156,967 |
| Fixed penalty notice | 19,538 | 235,662 |
| Escalating penalty notice | 8,400 | 82,712 |
| Production order | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 75,052 | 861,076 |
Regional and local enforcement data
We now publish automatic enrolment enforcement data, including Escalating Penalty Notices and Fixed Penalty Notices broken down by UK regions and local authority areas based on Office for National Statistics data.
Review of statutory notices for automatic enrolment
A review is where an employer who is the recipient of a statutory notice (such as a Compliance Notice, Fixed Penalty Notice or Escalating Penalty Notice) disagrees with our decision and requests a review.
Confirmed reviews are where we have carried out a review and decided that the statutory notice was issued correctly and appropriately and will continue to be applied to the employer.
In some cases, we revoke the statutory notice following the review. Where a notice is substituted, this may mean that a different breach has been uncovered and a different statutory power is used instead.
| Reviews | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Requested | 5,611 | 86,051 |
| Completed | 3,949 | 60,334 |
| Outcome of reviews | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | 1,078 | 15,404 |
| Revoked, substituted or varied | 2,871 | 44,930 |
Tribunals for automatic enrolment
Employers who receive a penalty notice and disagree with our decision to issue it must first ask us for a review. If they disagree with the outcome of that review they can then appeal the decision to the Tribunal Service. Employers have 28 days after the review decision is issued in which to appeal.
| Tribunals | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Requested | 155 | 2,886 |
| Defended | 68 | 1,431 |
| Not defended | 75 | 1,440 |
| Outcome of defended tribunals | Number in period | Number to December 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed[4] | 62 | 1,331 |
| Revoked, substituted or varied | 2 | 68 |
| Total | 64 | 1,399 |
Ongoing tribunals where the decision has yet to be made on how to respond: 14
Defended tribunals still ongoing at the end of December 2023: 32
Footnotes for this section
- [3] We define ‘to date’ as the period commencing from the outset of our compliance and enforcement activity for automatic enrolment (July 2012), and continuing all the way to the end of this reporting period (ie December 2023). We occasionally identify a small number of cases which have been incorrectly marked as relating to automatic enrolment. When this occurs, an adjustment to the numbers from the previous quarter will have been made.
- [4] Confirmed includes Struck out, Dismissed, plus Withdrawn
Online list of employer and trustee fines
We publish the total amount in penalties for:
- remaining non-compliant after paying an EPN
- an unpaid EPN leading to a CCJ
- not completing a scheme return
We publish enough information to identify:
- the name and area of those who have been fined
- the amount they need to pay to us
For a list of employer and trustee fines, please see penalty notices.