In numbers: TPR, ombudsman, Nest
From the blog: Monday saw the Pensions Regulator, the Pensions Ombudsman and Nest all issue their annual reports, so what were the key figures they revealed?
The regulator focused on the auto-enrolment success story, while the ombudsman noted a shift in complaints from scams to transfers (and overpayments). Nest meanwhile pointed to the vast numbers of employers and employees it deals with daily.
TPR recovers £650m in past year
As more than half a million employers put more than 7m workers into a scheme under auto-enrolment, the regulator also had to issue 14,707 fines.
In the defined benefit space, the regulator highlighted the £363m settlement achieved for BHS scheme members - the regulator’s largest to date.
Including BHS and Coats, more than £650m was recovered in the last reporting year. This is more than half the total that has been recovered through its DB powers since 2005.
Preparing for increasing powers and additional resources, the organisation has also been able to grow its staff numbers by 13 per cent, mostly in the frontline and intelligence departments, which it will need if it is to secure positive outcomes.
TPR also revealed its key performance indicators and how it did against those. While it deemed itself to have met most, a red rating was noted – meaning it significantly missed its target – for getting all public service schemes that require a record-keeping plan to have one in place.
Ombudsman deals with more transfer complaints
The Pensions Ombudsman had to deal with a growing volume of enquiries and complaints in its last reporting year, as people are becoming more aware of pensions and their value, but are confused over the laws and regulations that apply.
While pension liberation cases halved in percentage terms compared with the previous year, to 8 per cent from 16 per cent, complaints about transfers or overpayment of benefits (once a pension fund tries to recover these) have increased.
The ombudsman handled more than 6,000 enquiries in 2016-17, up 22 per cent from the previous year. Most of these enquiries (70 per cent) were received electronically.
Of the enquiries, 1,333 were taken for investigation – fewer than in 2015-16.
Source: Pensions Ombudsman
Just under a third (30 per cent) were resolved formally by the ombudsman – the rest were dealt with informally by adjudicators – and a third of the formal cases were partially or wholly upheld.
The investigations are now generally completed more swiftly than in the past, with 40 per cent done and dusted within six months (this was 25 per cent in 2015-16). On average, it took the ombudsman three-and-a-half months to do so.
Nest signs up 1,000 employers a day
Mastertrust Nest grew its membership by 1.5m in the latest reporting year, and now has 5m as more small and micro employers have started enrolling staff into a pension. About 8 per cent of these opt out.
About 1,000 employers sign up per day and Nest now works with about 400,000 employers.