Speaking at March’s JP Morgan Pensions and Savings Symposium, Ms Delfas outlined TPR’s commitment to enabling growth aligned with protecting savers. She emphasised that TPR cannot deliver growth in isolation, and called on government, regulators and the market to share responsibility and collaborate to deliver innovation, greater transparency, and a sharper focus on value for money. She said, “I would urge you all to consider what more you can do, particularly around transparency in performance and associated charging structures.”
Raising value and standards
Ms Delfas highlighted steps already underway, including stronger supervision of master trusts and continued work to improve trustee governance. TPR is developing a system to analyse investment performance data and encouraging voluntary asset allocation disclosures from master trusts. This will support the creation of public principles for driving growth across pension schemes.
She reaffirmed TPR’s support for governance standards among trustees to protect savers and enhance the pension system, noting “Well-designed regulatory policies with transparency at their core can correct market failures, promote equitable growth and enhance economic stability. In the forthcoming Pension Schemes Bill and our value for money framework, we have the potential to do all three.”
To raise standards, TPR will also push for consolidation in the DC market, targeting smaller underperforming schemes. It will publish a review on defined benefit surplus use, aiming to inform government policy and unlock surplus capital in a way that benefits both schemes and the wider economy.
Encouraging productive investment
TPR will work with government to identify growth opportunities that align with scheme objectives. It plans to share insights into infrastructure projects that could attract pension investment and will develop a strategy to ensure trustees are equipped to consider a broader range of investments.
These efforts are part of a wider aim to help schemes diversify portfolios while ensuring governance standards remain high. TPR’s focus is on understanding and removing the practical and behavioural barriers that prevent schemes from allocating to growth assets.
Reducing unnecessary regulatory friction
Ms Delfas said TPR is acting to streamline its processes in line with the new DB funding regime. This includes simplified data requirements and a new semi-automated digital form for scheme submissions. “This not only gives us the information we need but saves schemes paperwork and countless people-hours,” she said. “Over the coming year we plan to go further and conduct a broader review of our scheme return and supervisory returns.”
TPR will also examine capital reserving requirements for master trusts, with the aim of unlocking hundreds of millions of pounds for productive investment. A broader review of its interventions and regulatory framework is planned, with the goal of eliminating rules that no longer add value.
Leveraging digital and data to enable growth
Digital transformation is a key part of TPR’s strategy to reduce burden and enable more efficient supervision. It plans to streamline information requests and harmonise data requirements to make compliance easier for schemes and employers.
TPR also intends to support broader digital progress in the industry. A new working group will be formed to identify opportunities for legislative simplification and to improve data security and service delivery. This is aimed at helping schemes unlock the full potential of digital tools and high-quality data.
Supporting innovation
Encouraging innovation in the pensions market is another key priority. Ms Delfas said TPR has already backed the development of new products, including superfunds, but will go further by setting clearer boundaries to support safe innovation. “To be genuinely innovative, market actors need to know what the guard rails are,” she said. TPR will launch an innovation framework and criteria this year and will trial new ideas with the market ahead of launching a dedicated innovation hub in the autumn.
TPR also plans to work with industry to test emerging ideas and bring new propositions to market more efficiently, with the aim of improving saver outcomes and supporting UK economic growth.
Working with government
TPR has set out measurable commitments in a letter to government aimed at enhancing business confidence and improving the investment climate, while remaining focused on its core responsibility of protecting savers. In its letter to the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State, TPR stressed the need for a collaborative approach. It called for a review of the legal and regulatory framework to ensure it supports both rapid consolidation and effective investment in the interests of savers.
“We welcome the opportunity to engage and support growth in the interests of workplace pension savers,” the letter said. “UK pension savers benefit from a strong economy and we want all savers to benefit from properly diversified investments.”
TPR also urged government to provide a clear definition of what constitutes productive investment and to consider giving delegated rule-making powers to regulators. It recommended setting up a cross-government investment growth group to help coordinate efforts. ‘The goal must not be to eliminate all risk in the pensions system but instead to create a proportionate regulatory environment which also takes into account the wider holistic economic environment,’ the letter added.
Commenting on TPR’s approach, Luke Carter, Regulatory Consultant at Equiniti said, “TPR’s focus on reducing regulatory burden while maintaining strong governance standards is exactly what the industry needs. It’s a practical step forward that will help schemes focus more on delivering long-term value to savers. Care needs to be taken that innovation and consolidation do actually deliver value and better governance for members first and foremost”
Innovative pension platform support from EQ
For over 187 years, EQ has been working with pension schemes, members, managers and trustees to deliver innovative retirement solutions. As a specialist data consultancy with technology at its core, we support clients to administer over 4.4 million pensioners and annuitants. If you want to work with a trusted pensions partner on sensitive and highly complex pension data projects that specialises in managing challenges at scale, get in touch.