PLSA comments on TPR consultation on new criminal offences

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) comments on TPR’s consultation on its approach to the investigation and prosecution of the new criminal offences introduced by the Pensions Schemes Act.

Joe Dabrowski, Deputy Director, Policy, PLSA, said: “The PLSA, like most of the pensions sector, has expressed concerns for some time about how the new criminal offences could affect normal, entirely legal, pension governance rather than only applying to deliberate actions intended to harm pension funds and their savers.

“It is therefore welcome that the Regulator has set out how it intends to interpret the law in its new consultation and that it is seeking a discussion with industry on how to provide greater certainty.

“The examples included in the guidance are a helpful starting place. We will be talking to our members about whether they are suitable and whether they go far enough.

“What the draft policy does not, and cannot, address is the key issue of the ‘unknown unknowns’ - the potential for unintended consequences, and any future interpretations of the legislation by the Courts.

“Even in the best case scenario this will generate substantial extra, and probably unnecessary, compliance overheads.”

Mark Smith, Senior PR Manager
 020 7601 1726 |  [email protected]k

Steven Kennedy, PR Manager
 020 7601 1737 | 07713 073024 | [email protected]