The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) are working together on a pensions regulatory strategy, which will set out how we will work together to tackle the key risks facing the pensions sector in the next 5-10 years.
Engaging with stakeholders
We held a series of events with stakeholders in London, Edinburgh and Manchester in the spring. These broadly focused on two discussion areas led by the FCA and TPR:
- Our collective view of the current landscape of the sector and our respective regulatory remits
- Our likely key areas of focus in the coming years
For those who were unable to attend, a webcast of the London event is available. You can still feed into our Call for Input until the 19th June.
This work will also be informed by the FCA’s research and TPR’s ongoing ‘TPR Future’ program, as well as other factors such as the outcome of the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s inquiry into the pension freedoms and the impact of the Department for Work and Pensions’ review of automatic enrolment.
The pensions landscape
The last 5 years have seen significant change in the sector. For example, the introduction of the pension freedoms, which changed the way that people can access their retirement savings, and of automatic enrolment, which has seen more than 9 million people newly saving into workplace pension schemes.
Regulating the sector - our approach
For the FCA, this has meant making sure that our regulation provides the appropriate level of consumer protection and competition within this new landscape, whether this is through the establishment of Independent Governance Committees or ongoing work such as the Retirement Outcomes Review.
For TPR, the focus has been on protecting workplace pension savers through a drive to improve standards of governance in schemes, ensuring schemes are being treated fairly by sponsoring employers, and that workers are enrolled into the pensions they are entitled to by employers as part of automatic enrolment.
As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the sector works well for consumers and workplace pension savers, we are working together on a pensions strategy which will look at how we will work together, and with stakeholders, in the coming years.