Pensions Regulator to list 'well-run' group personal pension schemes on its website

The announcement means that the names of all well-run multi-employer schemes may in theory appear in the same place for the first time, regardless of whether they are occupational pension schemes regulated by the Pensions Regulator or personal pension schemes regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Pensions Regulator said that its listing criteria would mirror its criteria for master trusts "as far as possible".

Pensions expert Tom Barton of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that it "made sense" for all workplace pension scheme providers to be eligible for listing in the same place, especially given that the very smallest of employers were now getting ready to automatically enrol their workers into a suitable scheme.

"To be fair, the Pensions Regulator has, for good regulatory reasons, only previously listed the schemes within its remit – effectively limited to master trusts," he said. "But it is unfair to expect employers to appreciate the complex legal and regulatory distinction between occupational pension schemes and personal pension schemes, so it would be equally unfair to expect employers perusing the list of workplace schemes on the Pensions Regulator's website to realise it excluded a good chunk of the market."

"However, while this is all good in theory it possibly ignores the reality of distribution of workplace pension schemes. Many employers will work with their adviser to find a suitable scheme. By doing this, employers should hopefully better understand what is on offer in terms of investments, charges, retirement solutions and wider services. So whilst the extended list should be of some use to employers, there's more to scheme selection than that," he said.

Smaller businesses that are approaching their auto-enrolment 'staging dates' but which do not necessarily have the resources to run a scheme of their own will often use a multi-employer scheme, such as a master trust or GPP. Master trusts, which are regulated by the Pensions Regulator, enable providers to manage a defined contribution (DC) scheme for several employers under a single trust arrangement, while GPPs are collections of individual pension plans which are managed as a group and regulated by the FCA.

Currently, master trusts can obtain independent assurance of their quality, measured against a voluntary assurance framework developed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW). Although there is no legal requirement for them to obtain such assurance, doing so means that the Pensions Regulator will list the master trust on the employers' section of its website.

GPPs that apply to appear on the new list must be open to all employers, regardless of projected membership numbers or contribution amounts, in the same way as the listed master trusts. The GPP must also have been assessed by its independent governance committee (IGC) or governance advisory arrangement (GAA), and the most recent statements must be easily obtained by employers considering using the GPP. All charges imposed on members of the scheme's default fund must also be within the 0.75% charge cap introduced in April 2015, while member communications must include a clear description of how tax relief on member contributions is delivered.

In the second year of listing, the Pensions Regulator will expect the IGC/GAA report to include a statement confirming that the product does not offer "poor value" for members, similar to the value for money assessment required of trustees and IGCs of occupational pension schemes. It may remove GPPs from the list if it does not receive confirmation that the product still meets all the required criteria within three months of the anniversary of its inclusion, or if the IGC/GAA fails to complete its annual statement within the same timeframe.