Pensions Minister, Paul Maynard, has revealed that the government is not planning to introduce mandatory accreditation for pension scheme trustees for the foreseeable future.

Addressing the Pensions Age Spring Conference 2024, Maynard stated that discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had indicated that voluntary registers and upskilling appeared to be the “best next step forward”.

“We’re not yet going down the mandatory path, I think that’s fair to say,” he said.

Maynard speculated that there may be a point in time, once the voluntary register and upskilling had “worked their way through the system”, that there may seem to be a need for a mandatory register.

However, he clarified that he did not think we were at that point yet.

“Equally, we are seeing more professional trustees emerging,” he continued.

“We need to keep an eye on it; there are positives and there are negatives. I would rather do stuff through goodwill on a voluntary basis first and foremost; we don’t need more regulation.”

There had previously been rumours that the government was considering introducing mandatory accreditation for pension trustees, with Maynard refusing to rule it out in a session with the Work and Pensions Committee in January.

However, following discussions with the FCA, it appears that the government will not be pursuing mandatory accreditation for now.

Later in the conference, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice, Louise Davey, said that the regulator wanted to improve its understanding of the trustee landscape, and would therefore be introducing a trustee register “in time” to help it achieve this.

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