Aviva’s Company Pension has been named as the first group personal pension to meet The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) criteria to be included on a list of GPPs open to any employers.
GPPs added to the list must be open to all employers and meet a number of other criteria, including confirming that their independent governance committee or governance advisory arrangement has assessed the product on offer.
The new list sits on the employer’s section of TPR’s website alongside a list of master trusts which are open to all employers and have been independently reviewed against the voluntary master trust assurance framework.
AutoEnrolment.co.uk, run by pension platform Smart Pension, has been added to this list having obtained master trust assurance and met the criteria.
TPR executive director for automatic enrolment Charles Counsell says: “There is a wide choice of well-run, scalable and sustainable schemes which are available to all employers. I expect further GPPs and master trusts to be added to our lists in the coming months.
“We are working closely with interested providers to ensure those that meet the criteria are added to the lists as promptly as possible. We want employers to have information easily to hand to help them to choose a suitable scheme.
“For the hundreds and thousands of small and micro employers preparing to comply with automatic enrolment in the next two years, we believe that a well-run master trust or a group personal pension is a good choice.”
Aviva managing director of business solutions Andy Beswick says: “Being approved for The Pension Regulator website is really significant for us. It is often one of the first places that small business owners go when they are starting their auto-enrolment journey. Choice in the market is important, as is helping employers understand the full range of options. The changes being made make this easier and it means businesses can have a clearer picture of all the options they have.
“The Pension Regulator has recognised that Aviva can set up workplace pensions for businesses of all sizes and I am delighted that we will now feature on their website.”
Criteria for GPPs to appear on TPR’s list:
- providers must be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (and Prudential Regulation Authority where applicable) for GPP provision
- inclusion on the list is voluntary – providers have to ask to be listed
- the provider will confirm that their GPP is open to all employers who wish to use it to comply with their automatic enrolment duties regardless of projected membership numbers or contribution amounts
- all charges imposed on members in a default fund will be within the charge cap
- providers will need to confirm that their independent governance committee (IGC) or governance advisory arrangement (GAA) has assessed the GPP (or relevant GPP product series) under offer
- confirmation that the most recent IGC / GAA statement(s) can be easily obtained by employers considering using the GPP
- member communications must include a clear description of how tax relief is delivered
