The Pensions Regulator has fined the trustee and trust manager of Now Pensions in relation to persistent administration failures, and has given the embattled mastertrust until July to fix all of its issues.
Administration quality at Now Pensions first came to light in July last year, when it opted to withdraw itself from the regulator's list of approved mastertrusts.
The failings, which occured over a number of years, resulted in some members' savings not being collected and invested.
To redress any loss of benefits, Now Pensions has also agreed to set up a compensation scheme for anyone affected.
The regulator's warnings take the form of an improvement notice issued to the trustee board, along with a third-party notice issued to Now Pensions Limited, the commercial entity behind the mastertrust.
The scheme was fined £50,000 in November last year for the failure to collect and invest contributions between 6 April 2015 and 8 August 2017, with a further £20,000 fine issued in January for failing to keep all members properly informed.
The regulator has set multiple deadlines for problems to be fixed, with all issues expected to be resolved by July.
In a statement, executive director of frontline regulation Nicola Parish said the measures taken should see the end of the matter.
“We will continue to monitor progress and will issue further fines if necessary to ensure that the trustee and NPL focus on resolving the issues as swiftly as possible," she said, adding: “Trustees, sponsors and administrators should be in no doubt that we will act if we are concerned about the way schemes are being run.”
Now Pensions interim CEO Troy Clutterbuck said: “I am truly sorry for the delays that some clients have experienced processing pension contributions. We’ve been working closely with The Pensions Regulator on the steps detailed in the improvement notice and third-party notice and have made significant progress."
The scheme's trustee emphasised that the average adjustment members will see to their pot size will be less than £2, owing to the small pots currently in the scheme.
Clutterbuck added: "I’m pleased to say that the vast majority of schemes are now up to date. Work continues on a small percentage of larger and more complex schemes and these will be updated by April – the deadline set by the regulator.”
