Now: Pensions withdraws from regulator's master trust list

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Now: Pensions withdraws from regulator's master trust list

Now: Pensions has withdrawn from the master trust assurance list of providers for auto-enrolment as it works to resolve historic issues processing contributions for a small percentage of clients.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has been actively reviewing the position of Now: Pensions on the list due to concerns about the governance and administration of the scheme, including delays processing some contributions and communicating with a portion of members.

There is no suggestion that the assets of members are at risk as a result of the scheme coming off the list, or that employers whose workplace pensions are in place with Now: Pensions are not complying with their auto-enrolment duties.

The scheme trustee and Now: Pensions have requested that their scheme be removed from the master trust assurance list, which TPR welcomes and supports.

Commenting, Nicola Parish, The Pensions Regulator's executive director of frontline regulation, said: “Those in the master trust marketplace should be in no doubt that we will act if we become concerned about the way schemes are being run, no matter the size of the scheme involved.

“Schemes have a responsibility to meet specific criteria required to remain on the master trust assurance list. If a scheme fails to meet the criteria, we will consider removing it from the list.”

TPR is engaging with the scheme trustee and Now: Pensions to address the ongoing concerns about the scheme.

Once Now: Pensions has addressed its ongoing issues, it can apply to be put back on the master trust assurance list. TPR will monitor its progress in this.

Morten Nilsson, CEO of Now: Pensions, said: “Now: Pensions has always been a huge supporter of the master trust assurance framework and was one of the first providers to adopt it. We’ve since completed the framework three times and remain committed to it.

“We feel that while we work to resolve these historic issues and ensure that every scheme is up to date, it’s appropriate to withdraw from the list. We are confident that this work will be completed shortly. Providing our clients and members the best possible service remains our top priority.”

A statement on the company's website stated:  "Largely as a result of Now: Pensions’ change of third party administrator, it has experienced some delays processing contributions for a small percentage of clients.

"Now: Pensions has kept The Pensions Regulator fully updated regarding these historic issues. Getting these schemes up to date has taken longer than it should due to the complexity of some of the cases, the poor quality data that was sometimes involved and the systems used."

Mr Nilsson continued: “We should have been more proactive in our communications with affected clients and members regarding these issues and apologise wholeheartedly to those we have let down. In this instance, we have fallen short of the standard of service we aim to provide.”

To prevent a re-occurrence of these issues, Now: Pensions stated its has invested, and continues to invest heavily in new systems, people and processes.

According to the provider, over the past two years it has been building a large internal operation out of its office in Nottingham and its own auto-enrolment site to upload payroll files called the Now: Pensions Gateway. This was launched for new clients at the end of last year.

This new system has been tailor made for auto-enrolment.  

According to the company it is much simpler to use, with stronger validations to prevent poor quality data getting into the system which can cause significant problems further down the line.

Over the coming months Now: Pensions aims to gradually move existing clients across to this new system.