The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) chief executive has issued a rallying call to the industry to help improve the UK pensions system for the millions of people who are under-saving or underprepared for retirement.
Speaking at the Pensions Expert Annual Conference on 26 November, TPR’s Nausicaa Delfas said the UK’s pensions system was “unfinished business” as approximately 14.6 million people are under-saving for retirement – “more than the populations of London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool combined”.
“This means that, without change, we will have a generation facing a retirement it cannot afford,” Delfas said. “This is not just a challenge for those individuals. It is a challenge for all of us: our society was not built to support millions struggling to afford later life.”
The regulator, policymakers, and pension professionals needed to work to “change the trajectory of the system as a whole and to course correct, to set a new generation of savers on a path to a sustainable and adequate income”.
Raising the bar for trusteeship
Delfas reiterated TPR’s intention to raise the bar for trusteeship in the context of a consolidating industry, with a series of forthcoming roundtables and industry engagement events planned around the themes of trusteeship and governance.
“Across the board, we want to bring trusteeship into line with professional governance standards – learning from other sectors and applying best practices.”
Nausicaa Delfas, TPR
“Our vision is that all schemes are run by highly skilled trustees, so that all scheme members benefit from better outcomes,” the CEO said. “Across the board, we want to bring trusteeship into line with professional governance standards – learning from other sectors and applying best practices.”
Trustee boards need to have access to a broad set of skills as well as “cognitive diversity”, Delfas said. Trustees also need to take “greater responsibility” for making improvements to governance, data, communications, and cybersecurity.
While the regulator was “encouraged” by progress on administration standards, Delfas said more improvements were needed across technology, data standards, and access to talent.
“Resilience to cyber-attacks is particularly important,” she continued, highlighting TPR’s recent cybersecurity guidance and the importance of reporting cyber incidents promptly to help the regulator “tackle the ongoing threat from cyber criminals”.
With dashboards set to revolutionise how people access information about their pensions, Delfas also emphasised the importance of data as “a strategic asset”. One in four schemes still hold non-digital data, which will likely need to be digitised quickly, given the 31 October 2026 deadline for connecting to the dashboards ecosystem.
While TPR and the Financial Conduct Authority have been pragmatic with schemes and providers regarding monthly connection deadlines, next year’s final deadline is statutory, and Delfas indicated that the regulators would consider interventions if needed.
Investment, decumulation, and the Pension Schemes Bill
TPR is also set to begin market engagement work on investment diversification, with an emphasis on opportunities in the UK amid pressure from the government for pension schemes to invest more domestically.
“As a regulator, we can use our unique position in the marketplace to be the interlocutor between government and industry to support you to make the most of those opportunities,” Delfas said.
The focus on investment was primarily aimed at improving member outcomes, she said, but the work “may also benefit the UK economy… and through growth, we all benefit”.
In the coming year, Delfas said TPR would engage with the industry over default decumulation offerings as the Pension Schemes Bill is set to require defined contribution providers to offer a default retirement service.
“We want trustees to consider the design, cost, and overall value of decumulation solutions from now so that they are ready for when duties come into force,” she said.
“Some schemes may wish to go further in their communications to members and offer something more tailored. That is why we are working with the Financial Conduct Authority on its complementary Targeted Support initiative to make sure that, in tandem, these reforms give savers the support they need at retirement.”
Delfas added: “As the market evolves, trustees must take greater responsibility and accountability for ensuring those improvements happen. If you are a trustee, it is your responsibility, and not one that can be delegated.”
