The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has issued its first fines against a number of master trust schemes for failing to complete a chair’s statement.
The trustee of Nurture Master Trust, MC Trustees, was ordered to pay the maximum fine of £2,000 because the watchdog said it had failed to provide a statement despite having a professional trustee in place – and there were no mitigating factors.
In separate action, the trustees of three Save and Prosper master trust schemes were fined a total of £3,020 after also failing to prepare a chair’s statement.
TPR has issued a regulatory intervention report about both cases. In all the schemes the relevant trustee has now produced chair’s statements, TPR said.
Since April 2015, as part of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015, defined contribution schemes have been required by law to prepare an annual statement signed by the chairman of the trustees within seven months of the end of each scheme year.
Failure to comply means trustees face a mandatory penalty and a fine of between £500 and £2,000.
TPR executive director for frontline regulation, Nicola Parish, said: “Completion of the chair’s statement by trustees is a basic requirement of good governance and we expect trustees to comply.
“We will enforce the law and impose a penalty where trustees of schemes fail to prepare an annual governance statement signed by the chair of trustees. These requirements apply equally to trustees of master trusts.
“These latest fines result from our ongoing focus on ensuring that trustees comply with the requirements of good governance.
“Trustees should be aware that this type of breach will result in a fine and we hope that our latest report will act as a reminder to all trustees, professional or otherwise, to ensure they complete the chair’s statement fully and on time.”
In August last year, TPR fined Pitmans Trustees a total of £6,000 for failing to provide an annual governance statement signed by the chair of trustees for three separate schemes – the Precision Carbide Tools Limited Pension and Life Assurance Scheme, the Comshare Retirement and Death Benefits Plan, and the EBC Pension Scheme.
The regulator ordered the professional trustee firm to pay the maximum £2,000 for each of the schemes because, it said, they had failed to meet the statutory requirement and there were no mitigating factors.
