The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is refusing to name the 30 master trusts that exited the multi-employer workplace pension market ahead of the authorisation deadline.
The new rules on master trust authorisation, which came into force at the beginning of October, gave providers six months to win TPR’s approval to continue operating in the UK. At the time of writing it is also unknown if the remaining 58 master trusts will continue to serve UK workers.
A TPR spokesperson told portfolio institutional: “We are not naming master trusts which are exiting the market, or those that are intending to apply. We will publish a list of authorised master trusts on our website.”
Regarding the potential effects of master trust regulation on scheme members, the regulator added: “We have been in close discussions with master trusts, including those which have indicated they may leave the market. This means we understand their plans for winding up and can make sure members will be properly protected.”
Will Aitken, Deloitte’s head of defined contribution, criticises the decision not to name the providers who are planning to leave the market. “We know that around 30 master trusts are going to close in the coming months. However, we don’t yet know which plans they are. The idea of authorising master trusts is to provide better safeguards for members. What better way to reinforce that idea than to tell the market which plans aren’t going to become authorised?”
Master trusts which are known to have quit market include the £20m Your Workplace Pension, which merged with The People’s Pension in April, as well as Wessex Pension Trust and Pensions Umbrella Trust, which were bought by BlueSky Pensions last year.
Portfolio institutional has covered the broader impact of master trust consolidation on the DC market in more detail in it’s September issue.
