The Pensions Regulator has said it has got tougher with pension schemes as it faces the fallout of the BHS, Carillion and British Steel cases.
In its annual report for 2017/18 out today (12 July) the workplace pensions regulator said it had delivered more interventions more quickly where defined benefit schemes were underfunded.
The regulator highlighted the fact there was a 25 per cent increase in enforcement cases over the course of the year and the fact it had successfully prosecuted 11 people for failing to comply with its information-gathering powers.
The Upper Tribunal has issued the first substantive judgment supporting TPR’s use of its anti-avoidance powers in the ITV case.
The report comes a few months after a joint report by the Treasury and the Business, Energy & Industry Strategy select committees into the collapse of Carillion said TPR's response to the underfunding of Carillion's pension scheme had been "feeble" and criticised it for agreeing to exactly what the company had asked for.
In its response to the joint report, the regulator also acknowledged it should have reached a decision more quickly to bring its powers to bear and spent too long negotiating the scheme's valuation but it said its culture has been changing since then and it is now a "very different" organisation.
TPR has also recently had to take action over the collapse of department store BHS, which led to a £363m settlement with its former owner Sir Philip Green, and over the British Steel Pension Scheme, which led to a settlement of around £500m for members.
Mark Boyle, chairman of TPR, said: "We have changed as a regulator; we are being clearer with those we regulate, quicker to act where our expectations are not being met and tougher on those that do not act in the interests of members.
"TPR is more than just a regulator of DB pensions. We have been working to put new safeguards in place around master trust schemes, successfully implement workplace pension saving for nearly 10 million people and drive up standards of trusteeship across all schemes including public service schemes."
During the year TPR also oversaw the remaining stages of the roll-out of automatic enrolment, with more than 662,000 declarations submitted by employers during the year.
Compliance with auto-enrolment is now "well above" the regulator's target at 96.6 per cent and 99 per cent of the employee population has been put in a scheme.
TPR also said it had been in contact with every master trust this year to ensure they understand the requirements they will face under new funding and governance rules.
damian.fantato@ft.com
