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Compliance and enforcement bulletin July to December 2024

This regular update provides information about how we have used our powers. It is designed to help employers, 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. Find out more about our approach to regulating

Selected powers used for regulation of schemes

Power Description Number in period Number to December 2024
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.  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.  171  4,426 
  Power to vest or transfer property as a consequence of appointing or removing a trustee under Section 9 of the Pensions Act 1995.  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.  19 
  Power to extend the period of suspension.  15 
Trustee prohibitions  Power to make a prohibition order under Section 3 of the Pensions Act 1995.  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.  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.  29  920 
  Other mandatory penalty notice.  107 
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.  253 
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. 
Information gathering  Our formal information gathering powers under Section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004.  60  1,058 
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.  85 
Clearance  A statement that we will not use our anti-avoidance powers to issue a) contribution notice or b) financial notice directions or c) both1 in relation to a defined benefit occupational pension scheme.  70 
Inspection and warrants  Statutory inspection powers under Sections 73 to 78 of the Pensions Act 2004. 
Production order  A High Court Order under Section 345 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring the production of specified material.  113 
  Provision of information by interested party. Section 18(A) Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.  
Confiscation order  A Crown Court Order under Section 6(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring a convicted defendant to pay a sum of money representing the benefit from their offending.  12 
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. 
Restraint order  A High Court Order under Section 41(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring the restraint of assets. 
Criminal  Fraud by Abuse of Position under Section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006. 
  Restriction on Employer Related Investments under Section 40 of the Pensions Act 1995.  
Improvement/third party notice  Notices containing directions for a person to take steps to enable compliance with pensions legislation or remedy any non-compliance.  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. 
Master trusts  Add a scheme to the list of authorised Master Trust schemes under Section 13 of the Pension Schemes Act 2017.  39 
  Removing a scheme from the list of authorised Master Trust schemes.   5
  Confirm a triggering event notified by a Master Trust has been resolved.  125 
  Other Master Trust powers.  76 
Value for members enforcement  Most trust-based pension schemes with defined contribution benefits and less than £100m assets under management must annually complete a detailed value for members assessment. Should they conclude that their scheme does not offer good value they must either make improvements or consider transfer of money purchase benefits/ wind-up of scheme. Failure to complete the assessment may result in us issuing a financial penalty and considering further enforcement action.  18  27 
  Notices containing directions for a person to take steps as directed to enable compliance with pensions legislation or remedy any non-compliance. 
Climate change enforcement  Large schemes and authorised master trusts must produce and publish a Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report within 7 months of scheme year end. Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021 require us to issue a mandatory penalty to schemes failing to publish a link to their report on a publicly accessible website. 
Other  Other powers.  92 
Total    289  7,663 

Review of statutory notices for regulation of schemes 

If a trustee or other recipient disagrees with the issuing of a Statutory Notice – for example for failing to prepare a Chair’s statement – 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 2024
Requested 10 183
Completed 7 179
Outcome of reviews Number in period Number to December 2024
Confirmed 3 41
Revoked, substituted or varied 4 127

Footnotes for this section

  • 1 The power is executed twice.

Automatic enrolment

Automatic enrolment cases closed in the period  

Cases closed in the period: 52,914
Cases closed to date 2: 830,982

Selected powers used in the period  

Power Number in period Number to December 2024
Information notice 89 2,288
Inspection 129 2,520
Warrant 0 4
Compliance notice 31,740 443,284
Unpaid contributions notice 18,254 193,535
Fixed penalty notice 21,504 277,707
Escalating penalty notice 7,608 98,025
Production order 0 1
Total 79,324 1,017,363

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 by local authorities,  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 2024
Requested 6,003 97,923
Completed 4,196 68,394
Outcome of reviews Number in period Number to December 2024
Confirmed 897 17,325
Revoked, substituted or varied 3,299 51,069

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 2024
Requested 142 3,212
Defended 69 1,585
Not defended 69 1,623
Outcome of defended tribunals Number in period Number to December 2024
Confirmed 3 52 1,446
Revoked, substituted or varied 1 69
Total 53 1,515
Ongoing tribunals where the decision has yet to be made on how to respond: 4
Defended tribunals still ongoing at the end of December 2024: 70

Footnotes for this section

  • 2 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 2024). 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. 
  • 3 Confirmed includes Struck out, Dismissed, plus Withdrawn.

List of named employers and trustees who have received fines

We publish the amount in penalties issued to employers or trustees for:

  • remaining non-compliant after paying an Escalating Penalty Notice (EPN)  
  • an unpaid EPN leading to a Court Order  
  • not completing a scheme return
  • failure to correctly publish a climate change report on time
  • failure to complete a detailed value for members assessment

For a list of employer and trustee fines, see penalty notices.