FOI reference - FOI-321
Date - 9 October 2024
Request
I am currently undertaking some research and require a list of all the pension funds within the UK. I believe this adds up to approximately 5,297 funds in total. However, I am struggling to find where to source the list of names.
Are you able to provide all (or part of) the list? Or where I could look or who to speak to instead?
Response
I confirm that we hold the information you have requested. However, the information you have requested is exempt from disclosure.
Section 44(1)(a) – restricted information under s82 Pensions Act 2004 (PA04)
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’, which is defined at section 82(4) of the 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.
Help and advice
Please see Occupational defined benefit (DB) landscape in the UK 2023, which you may find helpful.