The Pensions Regulator has added record-keeping to its list of things trustees need to do for their scheme return to help improve standards.

The decision follows a survey by the regulator of more than 530 trust-based occupational schemes, which reveals little improvement in record-keeping, something the regulator says is essential to deliver value for money and to protect member outcomes.

The survey found that just 30 per cent of members are in schemes where conditional data – data used to calculate benefits – is not measured. Larger schemes are significantly more likely to have measured their data – 87 per cent of large schemes had measured common data versus 18 per cent of micro schemes.

Furthermore, administrators’ understanding of the terms 'common data' and 'conditional data' is not universal. Administrators and trustees perceive conditional data as secondary to common data – two fifths (39 per cent) of administrators felt the measurement of conditional data was not a priority for their scheme.

The survey also found record-keeping is not always seen as a priority by trustees, and they do not engage with their administrators accordingly – a quarter of administrators (23 per cent) felt that trustees treated record-keeping and administration as a low to middling priority (0 to 6 out of 10). This went up to 32 per cent for micro schemes, while trustees of auto-enrolment schemes were perceived to be more engaged with record-keeping than non-AE trustees.

Commenting on the results, TPR executive director Andrew Warwick-Thompson said it is “disappointing” that there are not more schemes taking their duty to keep proper records more seriously.

“We’ve made clear what our expectations are and many schemes, across all scheme types, are not meeting them. By adding record-keeping measures to the scheme return, we will be able to target our interventions more specifically at those failing in their duties.
“Good record-keeping is essential to the good running of a scheme. The time to engage is now – if you don’t, you run the risk of increased costs, not managing funding or risks properly, and you could even put members’ benefits at risk.

“We know schemes are looking to improve members’ experience and engagement through enhanced use of technology such as offering self-service access or participating in industry-wide initiatives like the Pensions Dashboard. But all this relies on good data, and good data security,” he said.

To help schemes meet their duties, TPR has launched a quick guide to record keeping and will be providing further educational products in 2017, including videos and bite-sized learning.

TPR has made clear that it expects all schemes should measure the presence and accuracy of their data, and put plans in place to resolve issues where they find them. Trustees and managers should be engaging with their administrators to drive this work forward.

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