The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has said that one of its priorities for the next three years will be to maximise compliance with auto-enrolment duties among medium, small and micro employers (SMEs).
In its new corporate plan, TPR said that investigating pension liberation activity and fulfilling its extended remit of regulating the governance and administration of public service pension schemes.
TPR chair Mark Boyle said: "The pensions landscape continues to develop apace, with Government proposals on minimum defined contribution (DC) quality standards, automatic transfers, defined ambition and drawing an income at retirement.
"It's important that we remain an agile organisation able to adapt to fresh challenges, whilst maintaining our unswerving focus on good outcomes for retirement savers."
He added that auto-enrolment is a core area where the "biggest challenges" still lie ahead, as tens of thousands of employers reach their staging dates in the coming months.
The regulator identified four corporate priorities to guide its strategy. These are:
- to promote good governance and administration of work-based pension schemes
- to promote security and good outcomes for members of work-based pensions
- to promote employer compliance with their pension responsibilities
- to improve its organisational efficiency and effectiveness
Stephen Soper, TPR interim chief executive, said: "To help us achieve our aims, we will be focusing on overarching corporate priorities, rather than rigidly adhering to a silo-based approach with our individual lines of business.
"Over the next few years we will be embedding the new growth objective into our defined benefit (DB) work, helping DC schemes assess their value for money, and supporting SMEs in complying with their auto-enrolment duties, amongst other activities.
"It is crucial that we approach these challenges with organisational flexibility if we are to regulate effectively in today's ever-evolving pensions landscape."
First published 21.05.2014
monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk
