Board meeting summary September 2022

Apologies, welcomes, declarations of conflicts of interest

The Chair welcomed everybody to the meeting. No declarations had been received in advance or were made at the meeting.

The Board expressed its condolences to the Royal Family on the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September. They observed a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.

Chair's update

The Chair updated the Board on recent activities, including meetings held with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and with the new Director of Private Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

CEO report

The CEO with the Chair had met with the new Director of Private Pensions at DWP. The government's focus on the growth agenda was discussed including the proposal to make changes to the defined contribution charge cap to enable investment in productive finance.

Regulatory family – The Board was updated on a recent meeting with representatives from TPR, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Financial Services Compensation Scheme and MaPS. Topics of discussion at the meeting had included the cost-of-living crisis, the Financial Services and Markets Bill.

Defined benefit funding code – Board was updated on progress from industry to the DWP consultation.

Pensions dashboards – A staging plan would be introduced from April 2023, starting with large schemes and master trusts and cascading down. A communications campaign was being launched.

Other regulator input – Pension Authority IE

The Chair welcomed Brendan Kennedy, Pensions Regulator and CEO of the Pensions Authority (PAIE) in Ireland, who had kindly agreed to talk about the PAIE’s regulatory framework.

Collective defined contributions (CDC) phase 2 – policy positions

CDC had so far been launched on a narrow basis, and was currently at the beginning of phase 2; TPR was waiting for the first single-employer applications to come in. DWP was planning an early principles-based consultation later this year to test the market’s appetite for broadening what was possible and how CDC could be expanded. The Board discussed options for the direction of travel and risk appetite.

Key policy updates

The Board received and discussed an update on the policy portfolio.

Stakeholder panels

The Board were given a progress report on the establishment of three stakeholder panels.

Automatic Enrolment (AE) deep dive – large employer engagement

The Board received and discussed a presentation on the large employer inspections currently being carried out by the AE Compliance and Enforcement Serious and Complex Case Team. This highlighted some emerging themes now a critical mass of these inspections had been carried out after the pandemic, together with actions being taken to address them.

Questions on papers to note

The Board approved the Value for Money framework policy proposals for consultation and agreed to delegate final signoff to the Executive Director for Regulatory Policy, analysis and Advice.

The Board received the Chair’s letter from the DWP regarding conduct/conflicts of interest in public bodies.

Any other business

None.