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Enforcement procedures: overview

Published: 25 October 2022

  1. Where we decide to begin enforcement action our teams, and subsequently the Determinations Panel will follow the relevant policy and applicable procedure for the power we are using as set out below:
    • For reserved functions that require a decision of the Determinations Panel, as set out in Schedule 2 of the Pensions Act 2004, we follow the case team procedure and the Determinations Panel procedure.
    • For non-reserved functions that do not require a decision by the Determinations Panel, as set out in s93 of the Pensions Act 2004, we follow the staff determinations procedure (PDF, 89KB, 12 pages).
    • These procedures set out information for those who may be the subject of our enforcement action as well as those who we also view as being “directly affected” by it.
    • For certain statutory notices (compliance notices, third party compliance notices and penalty notices issued under either:
      • the Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015 or
      • the Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations2021)
      • we may commence regulatory action following consideration of scheme return information and/or any information obtained during our investigation. The statutory notice will be issued in accordance with the respective Regulations and we will determine the appropriate recipient(s) of the notice and serve it on those identified person(s) in accordance with the requirements of each of those Regulations
      We follow the procedure set out in challenging enforcement action for challenges brought in respect of these notices
    • For securing compliance with our information-gathering powers, which may include imposing financial penalties, we follow the procedure set out in the investigations section of this policy.
    • For prosecuting a criminal offence, we follow the procedure set out in our prosecution policy.
  2. The published procedures describe, amongst other things, how decisions and determinations on cases are made, and when and how a person can make representations.
  3. We always act in accordance with our legal obligations, including those contained within the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Human Rights Act 1998 and our equality duties under the Equality Act 2010.