Erewash MP Maggie Throup has given her backing to new legislation that will see it become a criminal offence for pension scheme trustees or managers to reimburse themselves from the assets of schemes if they are fined by the Pensions Regulator for failing to register the appropriate data with the new pension dashboards.
Failure to comply with the new regulations, introduced by The Pension Schemes Act 2021, carries fines of up to £5,000.00 for an individual and up to £50,000.00 for organisations.
Speaking in the Pension Dashboards (Prohibition of Indemnification) Bill committee, Maggie said:
“There is nothing in legislation to prevent pension scheme trustees or mangers from reimbursing themselves from the assets of the pension scheme if they fail to comply with the new Pensions dashboard regulations.
“As Members of Parliament, I am sure we have all had surgery cases where constituents feel, for a variety of reasons, that they are not getting their expected pension due to inappropriate use of funds.
“I therefore welcome the measures in this Bill and I am delighted to support it.”
BACKGROUND
- Since the introduction of automatic enrolment, over 10.7 million people have been enrolled into a workplace pension, with an additional £33 billion being saved into pensions schemes in 2021 when compared to 2012.
- To allow people to keep track their various pensions, including their State Pension, The Pension Schemes Act 2021, introduced provisions to establish online pension dashboards to provide savers with clear and simple information regarding their pensions all in one place.
- The Bill passed Committee Stage on 26th October and will now return to the House of Commons where it will continue to progress through the legislative process.
