If you are a professional pension trustee we expect you to show a greater level of knowledge and meet higher standards than other trustees.
Check if you are a professional trustee
We consider a professional trustee to be a person whose business includes trusteeship. Someone will normally be considered a professional trustee if they have represented themselves to one or more unrelated schemes as having expertise in trustee matters generally (rather than just in certain areas).
We are unlikely to consider you to be a professional trustee if both points 1 and 2 below apply.
- You are or have been either:
a. a member of the pension scheme or a related pension scheme
b. employed by, or a director of, a participating employer in the pension scheme - You do not act as a trustee for unrelated schemes.
If you’re not sure if you are considered to be a professional trustee, read our description of a professional trustee:
Meet standards for professional trustees
We expect professional trustees to achieve the standards for professional pension trustees.
We also expect professional trustees to gain accreditation to show that they meet the standards. Read more about the professional trustee standards and the accreditation framework that is being set up.
Tell us you are a professional trustee
If you meet the description of a professional trustee you need to tell us you are a professional trustee on the scheme return.
Sole trustees
If you act as a sole trustee on a scheme this can pose risks to members in some circumstances. Therefore, we may place greater scrutiny on schemes with sole trustees.