Regulator issues notes for insolvency practitioners on trustee appointments and statutory notices

The Pensions Regulator has issued a statement which is intended to assist insolvency practitioners (IPs) to understand the regulator's views on pension scheme trustee appointments and statutory obligations to notify.

The statement aims to assist insolvency practitioners to understand the regulator's views on the following:

IPs and scheme trustee appointments

This is about the regulator's power to appoint trustees to occupational pension schemes in some circumstances, and looks at:

• Trustee appointments: employer insolvency
• IPs and trustees of an employer's pension scheme
• IP appointing a trustee
• IP acting as trustee

IPs and statutory obligations to notify

The statement says it appears that some IPs are unclear about some of their statutory obligations to make notifications to the regulator (among other parties).

It confirms that the obligations to notify in section 22 of the Pensions Act 1995 (which applies for example where an IP begins to act in relation to the scheme's employer) and in section 120 of the Pensions Act 2004 (which applies where there is an insolvency event) are separate and distinct, and the regulator expects that where these obligations both apply they will both be complied with.

Source: Statement: Notes for insolvency practitioners: trustees and statutory notices