The Pensions Regulator : Helping trustees understand risks in hybrid pension arrangements

25 October 2011 The Pensions Regulator today published a statement on “Helping trustees understand risks in hybrid pension arrangements”. Based on a survey that the Regulator carried out earlier in 2011, the paper highlights the need for a proper understanding of the characteristics of individual schemes (given the lack of homogeneity in this sector, this is understandable) along with key risks facing trustees: governance, member communications, benefit segregration and calculation, investment risk and provision of statutory retirement options. External link

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The Pensions Regulator : The role of trustees in DC schemes

13 October 2011 The Pensions Regulator today published a paper on “The role of trustees in DC schemes”. It works rather well in establishing the key differences in trustee duties for DC (asset protection, investment choice, cost structures and contributions) as opposed to DB (payment of benefits and employer covenant). One key requirement is the need to be clear what the nature of the promise to DC beneficiaries is, the consequential duties on trustees and the powers and governance resposibilities that are adopted in the fulfillment of those duties. The paper is short and it is worth reading by all…

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The Pensions Regulator : Take action to identify your statutory employer

28 July 2011 The Pensions Regulator has today published a statement, “Identifying your statutory employer”, to help trustees understand the importance of identifying their scheme’s statutory employer and how they should set about doing this. External link Commentary Why is this important? The statutory employer is legally responsible for meeting the funding requirements of a defined benefit scheme and paying s75 debt if certain events occur. The fate of the statutory employer is also relevant in triggering any future entry into the Pension Protection Fund. For many schemes, particularly those running (or who may run) a funding deficit, the “asset”…

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The Pensions Regulator : Recovery Plans

June 2011 The Pensions Regulator has published “Recovery Plans : Scheme funding and other security arrangements” which provides an analysis of DB scheme recovery plans (valuation dates up to end September 2009) submitted to TPR before February 2011. This provides useful information on the funding level of this cohort plans and some ongoing timeline comparators as a large number of schemes had also submitted prior plans which had been included in an earlier report. Also interesting is the discussion on the increased prevalence of the use of contingent assets, often coupled with longer recovery periods, particularly for some of the…

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  • Author: Martin Veasey
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