Record-keeping: a consultation document - The Pensions Regulator

What is the regulator’s proposed approach?
6.7 The regulator proposes to adopt the approach of educate, enable and, if
necessary at a later stage, to enforce.
Education
Raising awareness of the importance of record-keeping
6.8 As part of informal consultation, prior to the issue of this document the
regulator has held workshops for trustees, administrators, providers,
employers, and IFAs to explain the benefits of good record-keeping and
to consider our proposals for measuring and improving record-keeping.
6.9 In addition the regulator will conduct visits to providers, administrators
and advisers in order to support them in understanding the importance
we attach to record-keeping and to understand issues that are being
encountered.
6.10 Other steps proposed are to supplement the existing guidance in the
trustee toolkit (www.trusteetoolkit.com) on the importance of data,
record-keeping and checking data integrity; and to consider including
administration in its own right in the scope of the syllabus for trustee
knowledge and understanding.
6.11 In respect of GPPs, the regulator’s recently issued guidance to
employers on voluntary monitoring of the running of schemes refers to
administration and record-keeping matters.
(http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/engagement/index.a
spx) We will continue to review educational needs in this area, working
with the FSA where appropriate.
Enabling
6.12 The regulator has suggested a methodology to measure the presence of
data in scheme records.
6.13 We will enable trustees, administrators, providers and others to measure
and improve record-keeping by engaging with the following:
• with software suppliers. Our expectation is they will find it reasonably
straightforward to produce programs to perform the checks
necessary to assess the presence of data in accordance with our
proposed approach. We will discuss this with software suppliers as
part of our consultation;
• with the Institute of Payroll Professionals in their endeavours to
engage with payroll providers and others to facilitate the production
of guidelines for payroll data produced in respect of pensions.
6.14 We will also engage with the audit profession to consider whether it is
appropriate to incorporate standards for record-keeping into their
The Pensions Regulator: Record-keeping consultation document
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