The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is still waiting for five schemes that have been granted an extension to submit their applications, its latest monthly report has revealed.

This means that the five schemes that have an extension but have not applied, have approximately two weeks to hand them in or drop out of the market.

The current master trust market also revealed that a scheme that had been granted an extension was not included in the summary as it “no longer meets the definition of a master trust”.

The scheme in question, like many master trusts attempting to gain authorisation, had taken legal advice on whether it should proceed with its application.

This resulted in the scheme being advised that it did not meet the criteria of a master trust and it therefore dropped out of the application process.

The master trust authorisation application deadline was 31 March 2019, although schemes that had been granted an extension had a further six weeks to submit their applications.

As of 30 April, five DC master trusts had been granted authorisation, 29 had submitted their applications and were awaiting response, and five schemes had an extension but had not yet submitted their applications.

Evolve Pensions’ schemes, The BlueSky Pension Scheme and The Crystal Trust, became the latest two schemes to be granted authorisation on 11 April, joining Willis Towers Watson's LifeSight and Legal & General's two schemes to become the fourth and fifth schemes authorised by TPR.

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