The pensions landscape is rapidly changing towards one of fewer, larger schemes with new products and services being offered every day.
Our mission is to protect, enhance and innovate in savers’ interests so that all savers – from every walk of life – can get good retirement outcomes from pensions.
That is why last year we set out that we are shifting our approach to a more prudential style of regulation, addressing risks not just at an individual scheme level, but also those risks which impact the market and wider financial ecosystem.
This year, we will be implementing this vision further.
This starts with an open and transparent dialogue with those who run pensions. We will continue to engage with industry in existing and new ways, so that we hear directly what the challenges are and how we, collectively, can overcome them.
We want to hear your ideas and suggestions. But we also don’t want there to be any surprises.
You should be clear on the outcomes we seek for savers, our expectations and what we want you to do to meet those expectations.
Ultimately, we want schemes, advisers and administrators to engage with us early to prevent problems arising later.
We are not interested in just putting out fires. We want to stop things catching alight in the first place. But if people ignore this offer of collaboration, don’t be surprised if we step in and intervene in the most appropriate way, using our powers where needed.
Over the next 12 months, we will:
Say more about the need for better data and how we will support you to raise standards, capitalise on new opportunities, and reduce regulatory burden and frictions in how you share information with us
Continue to change how we supervise the most strategically significant schemes – starting with master trusts – to make sure that we anticipate and mitigate future risks to savers, enhance outcomes and foster innovation
Launch our innovation hub to encourage industry to support market innovation and facilitate open and transparent conversations on new models and ideas at an early stage
Set out our future approach to enforcement and tackling serious crimes
Make sure value for money is at the heart of our work, progressing the joint value for money framework, to ensure schemes embed value and ultimately allow savers to choose the right scheme for them
Continue to protect savers’ outcomes from climate-related risks and benefit from opportunities from the UK’s transition to a net-zero economy
Implement a more strategic approach to raising standards of trusteeship
Help defined benefit schemes consider the full range of alternative models of provision through new guidance.
2025 will be a year of decisive action from The Pensions Regulator, with genuine and open collaboration and a focus on long-term outcomes for savers over tick-box regulation.
All this will ensure we meet our goals as a regulator: to protect, enhance and innovate.
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