Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the total number of members of master trust pension schemes.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Pensions Regulator publish such estimates in their ‘DC Trust: a presentation of scheme return data’ publication, which can be found at the following link for 2015-16:
This publication shows that there were 3.9m members in master trust schemes as at 31 December 2015.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to enforce section 54 of the Pensions Act 2008.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Section 54 of the Pensions Act 2008 prohibits employers from taking any action for the sole or main purpose of inducing a worker to leave a workplace pension scheme.
The Government takes potential inducement by employers very seriously. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is responsible for all matters relating to employers’ compliance with their enrolment duties, including investigations into individual cases of potential inducement by employers.
Through automatic enrolment we are delivering a fundamental shift in workplace pension saving that is changing the way that people are enabled to save for retirement. Already 100,668 employers have completed their declaration of compliance with the Regulator, resulting in more than 6 million eligible jobholders being automatically enrolled into a qualifying pension scheme.
The law relating to inducements is an important safeguard for workers and the Regulator has statutory powers of investigation and enforcement it can use in appropriate circumstances. We are working with the Regulator to monitor the number and nature of possible inducement cases as the roll-out of automatic enrolment continues. That will enable us to judge whether the current legislation covering inducement, and the guidance and messaging provided by the Regulator, are operating effectively to protect employees, and whether change may be appropriate.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on employers offering higher salaries to employees who opt of occupational pension schemes.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Section 54 of the Pensions Act 2008 prohibits employers from taking any action for the sole or main purpose of inducing a worker to leave a workplace pension scheme.
The Government takes potential inducement by employers very seriously. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is responsible for all matters relating to employers’ compliance with their enrolment duties, including investigations into individual cases of potential inducement by employers.
Through automatic enrolment we are delivering a fundamental shift in workplace pension saving that is changing the way that people are enabled to save for retirement. Already 100,668 employers have completed their declaration of compliance with the Regulator, resulting in more than 6 million eligible jobholders being automatically enrolled into a qualifying pension scheme.
The law relating to inducements is an important safeguard for workers and the Regulator has statutory powers of investigation and enforcement it can use in appropriate circumstances. We are working with the Regulator to monitor the number and nature of possible inducement cases as the roll-out of automatic enrolment continues. That will enable us to judge whether the current legislation covering inducement, and the guidance and messaging provided by the Regulator, are operating effectively to protect employees, and whether change may be appropriate.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing a fiduciary duty for the governance committees of pension funds to their members.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules introduced in April 2015, independent governance committees (IGCs) have a clear duty to challenge providers on the value for money of their workplace pension schemes, acting in members’ interests, raising concerns and making recommendations as appropriate. The provider must also make arrangements for member views to be directly represented to the IGC.
The provider’s board has a “comply or explain” duty in response to recommendations from the IGC and if the IGC is not content with the board’s response it can escalate to the FCA, to members of the scheme and to the public. When coupled with the IGC’s duty to act in members’ interests, this provides a practical and direct way of ensuring good member outcomes.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to review the governance arrangements of pension funds.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 laid before Parliament on 1 February, include a review provision as required by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 which will oblige the Secretary of State to carry out reviews at least every 5 years of all the governance requirements for occupational pension schemes covered in Part V of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations 1996 as amended by this instrument. Subject to Parliamentary approval the draft 2016 Regulations will come into force on 6 April 2016. We will consider in due course how this review would work in practice.
On the governance of workplace personal pension schemes, the Financial Conduct Authority propose to carry out a review of the effectiveness of independent governance committees in 2017.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26069, whether trades unions which are not formally recognised by an employer will be entitled to request and receive the Chair's Statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains committed to ensuring that members of pension schemes are able to obtain information about the costs and charges which they bear. Although it is not a legal requirement, the Government expects that many schemes will choose to publish their annual Chair’s Statement. In due course, the Government intends to make regulations requiring information about scheme costs and charges to be published.
Trade unions that are recognised to any extent for the purposes of collective bargaining in relation to members of the scheme are entitled to receive a copy of the Chair’s Statement. Trade unions which do not meet these criteria are not entitled to receive a copy of the Chair’s Statement. However, beneficiaries of pension schemes who are members of trade unions which are not recognised for collective bargaining purposes may still request the information and pass it on to their union or any other person.
We intend to publish a summary of the evidence received on transaction costs in pension schemes when we announce our next steps, which will follow in due course.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26069, when the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority plan to publish the evidence received on transaction costs for pension trusts; and what the timetable is for determining the next steps referred to.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains committed to ensuring that members of pension schemes are able to obtain information about the costs and charges which they bear. Although it is not a legal requirement, the Government expects that many schemes will choose to publish their annual Chair’s Statement. In due course, the Government intends to make regulations requiring information about scheme costs and charges to be published.
Trade unions that are recognised to any extent for the purposes of collective bargaining in relation to members of the scheme are entitled to receive a copy of the Chair’s Statement. Trade unions which do not meet these criteria are not entitled to receive a copy of the Chair’s Statement. However, beneficiaries of pension schemes who are members of trade unions which are not recognised for collective bargaining purposes may still request the information and pass it on to their union or any other person.
We intend to publish a summary of the evidence received on transaction costs in pension schemes when we announce our next steps, which will follow in due course.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26069, for what reason the Chair's Statement must be requested by beneficiaries rather than provided automatically.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains committed to ensuring that members of pension schemes are able to obtain information about the costs and charges which they bear. Although it is not a legal requirement, the Government expects that many schemes will choose to publish their annual Chair’s Statement. In due course, the Government intends to make regulations requiring information about scheme costs and charges to be published.
Trade unions that are recognised to any extent for the purposes of collective bargaining in relation to members of the scheme are entitled to receive a copy of the Chair’s Statement. Trade unions which do not meet these criteria are not entitled to receive a copy of the Chair’s Statement. However, beneficiaries of pension schemes who are members of trade unions which are not recognised for collective bargaining purposes may still request the information and pass it on to their union or any other person.
We intend to publish a summary of the evidence received on transaction costs in pension schemes when we announce our next steps, which will follow in due course.