Catalogue description Records created or inherited by The Pensions Regulator

The Pensions Regulator

The Pensions Regulator (The Regulator) commenced operations on 6 April 2005, having been established under the Pensions Act 2004. It is an executive nondepartmental public body (NDPB), accountable to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. While the organisation commenced operations in April 2005, a Commencement Order brought the Pensions Regulator into being with effect from 17 December 2004.

The Regulator superseded the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA), which was dissolved under Section 300, Chapter 35 of the Pensions Act 2004, with effect from 5 April 2005. Under the provisions of the Act, the Regulator inherited OPRA's assets and liabilities as well as residual duties and powers, as well as granting new powers and responsibilities. The Regulator has a board of part-time members and a part-time chairman.

The objectives of the Regulator are: to protect the benefits of members of work-based personal pension schemes; to reduce the risk of situations arising which may lead to compensation being payable from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF); and to promote, and to improve understanding of, the good administration of work-based pension schemes.

The Pensions Regulator's powers fall under three broad categories: Investigating schemes; Putting things right; Acting against avoidance.

A work-based pension scheme is any scheme that an employer makes available to employees. This includes all occupational schemes, and any stakeholder and personal pensions schemes where employees have direct payment arrangements.

Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA)

OPRA was established under Section 1 of the Pensions Act 1995, succeeding the Occupational Pensions Board. OPRA took up its full powers in 1997 as the statutory regulator for occupational pension schemes in the UK and was also responsible for maintaining the Pensions Schemes Registry. OPRA had a board of nine part-time members (appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) and a part-time chairman. It came under the formal stewardship of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and, as an NDPB, it was accountable directly to Parliament through its parent Department. Equally, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was answerable to Parliament for OPRA's work and its performance, and reported to the Secretary of State on its activities under the general functions of the Pensions Act and the Government's general aims.

OPRA supervised a range of legal requirements to protect people's occupational pensions. It also supervised employers who made employer or employee payments into personal pensions. OPRA conducted investigations and took action where there was carelessness or negligence that put pension schemes at risk. Its powers to undertake investigations and to impose sanctions were defined in the Pensions Act 1995 and the pensions provisions of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, and the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000. Breaches were reported to the Authority by 'whistle blowers' as defined in Section 48 of the Pensions Act 1995.

OPRA could deal with breaches by means of: financial penalties; criminal prosecution; referral to other bodies such as the Police or the Serious Fraud Office; or disqualification of trustees and appointment of independent trustees.

OPRA also had a role in educating and informing those associated with pension schemes to reduce the incidence of breaches.

From April 2001 OPRA gained additional responsibility for maintaining a public register of stakeholder pension schemes and monitoring schemes' compliance with stakeholder conditions. Personal pension providers (insurance companies) were also instituted as whistle blowers in respect of late or non-payment of either employer or employee contributions into a personal pension scheme. As at November 2002, there were some 100,000 occupational pension schemes holding assets totally £770 billion and with 25 million members. OPRA's statutory role related to the way these schemes were run and the security of the assets held.

In 2002, A National Audit Office Report on OPRA highlighted the results of a DWP Simplification Review, in that statutory requirements for pensions should focus on the objective to be achieved rather than the process needed to achieve it, and that a 'new kind of regulator', more proactive than OPRA, was proposed to act as an adviser as well as a regulator, and issue codes of practice or guidance notes.

The Pensions Scheme Registry (PSR)

The PSR was established in 1991 under the Occupational Pensions Board. OPRA took over the role of Registrar of Occupational and Personal Pensions in April 1997. The PSR's statutory responsibilities included obtaining and recording details of all tax-approved occupational and personal pension schemes with two or more members. The PSR also assisted in tracing pension schemes that people had lost contact with, and collected a General Levy (on behalf of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) to assist in the administration of OPRA, OPAS (the Pensions Advisory Service), and the Pensions Ombudsman. When necessary it also collected a Compensation Levy, which funded compensation payments made by the Pensions Compensation Board. The activities of the PSR transferred to OPRA and the tracing activities transferred to the Pensions Advisory Service.

Pensions Compensation Board (PCB)

The PCB, established in 1997, helped occupational schemes that have suffered a reduction in value of their assets as a result of dishonesty and where the sponsoring employer was insolvent. The Board was funded by a levy on occupational schemes. Under Section 302, Chapter 35 of the Pensions Act 2004, the PCB was dissolved and its functions transferred to the Ombudsman for the Board of the Pensions Protection Fund (established under Section 209, Chapter 35 of the Pensions Act 2004), and the Board for the Pension Protection Fund (set up under Section 107, Chapter 35 of the Pensions Act 2004 - came into operation 6 April 2005). The Board for the Pensions Protection Fund also administers the Fraud Compensation Fund.

See following publications: Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority - Quinquennial Review. A Consultation Document. May 2002. National Audit Office Press Notice. Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA): Tackling the risks to pension scheme members (Note for Editors)