The Pensions Regulator (TPR) used its enforcement powers more than 22,000 times in the final quarter of 2018, it has revealed.
The watchdog’s latest quarterly compliance and enforcement bulletin, published today (14 February), details the action taken between October and December last year to protect savers’ pensions.
As staging for auto-enrolment (AE) concluded earlier last year, the number of compliance notices the regulator issued in the quarter were 8,200 fewer than the previous quarter, falling to 6,975.
The report also showed that 149 trustees were appointed by TPR in order to protect members’ benefits, while a further 11 trustees were suspended while the regulator considered if they had committed an offence involving dishonesty or deception.
TPR also used its powers to take actions against trustees on 30 occasions where they had failed to prepare a complaint chair’s statement.
Director of AE Darren Ryder said: “More than 1.4 million employers have done the right thing for their staff and we’re delighted so many now have the opportunity to save for later in life. But we are not complacent and will continue to ensure employers and their advisers meet their responsibilities.
“We will not tolerate behaviour by employers or their advisers that sees pension savers short changed by not being put into a scheme.”
Executive director of frontline regulation Nicola Parish commented: “This report highlights the many wide-ranging powers and ways of working that we are using to protect savers – from helping trustees deal more robustly with employers, to taking swift court action when we suspect members’ savings are at imminent risk.”
She added: “Our clearer, quicker and tougher approach is having a real impact.”
The regulator warned trustees and employers it will take action where it sees substantial dividends with low scheme contributions and long recovery plans, including pressing for the use of dividend-sharing mechanisms. Last year, RP’s sister title Professional Pensions revealed that the watchdog was stepping up efforts to encourage schemes and sponsors to agree to use the funding arrangement.
The latest enforcement figures come amid a backdrop of broader public action from TPR. For example, in December last year, TPR served a summons in its first prosecution for fraud and employer-related investments against a trustee. Two months prior to this, a recruitment agency was ordered to pay a £280,000 fine after TPR found senior members had posed as temporary staff and illegally opted them out of their workplace pension scheme.
TPR’s report comes after news that 10 million people are now saving for retirement as a result of auto enrolment.