Pensions Authority compliance alert: Signing of Annual Reports

25 April 2017:  

Signing of Annual Reports

The Pensions Authority has identified a number of instances of non-compliance with the trustee obligation to sign annual reports. The Authority is alerting trustees to the importance of signing annual reports and not delegating or outsourcing this statutory obligation.

Trustee Annual Reports

The Trustee annual report (TAR) is an important scheme information document.  It reports on scheme activity for the previous scheme year, including membership, financial information and investment performance. Trustees are legally obliged to sign this document to demonstrate their responsibility and stewardship of the scheme and this statutory obligation cannot be delegated or outsourced.

The Authority has identified a number of instances of non-compliance where TARs are not signed by scheme trustees in accordance with the relevant legal requirements. The TAR must be signed by two trustees, or where there is only one trustee, by that trustee. Through its ongoing inspection and audit work, it has come to the attention of the Authority that this does not always occur. In particular, in some cases the Registered Administrator (RA) is signing the annual report on behalf of trustees.

While the preparation of the annual report may be outsourced to an RA, it is important that scheme trustees appreciate that this does not relieve them of their legal obligations to sign the annual report. In addition, it is the Authority’s view that the act of signing the annual report assists in reminding and focusing trustees on their important responsibilities and obligations to scheme members.

The Pensions Authority will be keeping this matter under review and will consider compliance action where appropriate. 

Ends.  

For further information contact:

David Malone
Head of Operations and Communications
The Pensions Authority
Tel (01) 6131900

Note to Editors

The Pensions Authority is the statutory body established by the Pensions Act, 1990 to regulate occupational pension schemes, trust based RACs and PRSAs. www.pensionsauthority.ie