The code, which is out for consultation until May 8, outlines how master trusts will be expected to meet the new authorisation criteria and what they will need to evidence for TPR to grant authorisation and to continue to operate in the market.
Authorisation will commence on October 1 and existing schemes will have six months from that date to apply to TPR for authorisation.
More than half of people who have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme by their employer are saving into a master trust scheme.
The size of the market has grown since the launch of automatic enrolment – from 270,000 members in 2010 to nearly 10m people today with £16bn of savings.
TPR acting director of regulatory policy Anthony Raymond says: “As the master trust market grew we had concerns about the lack of regulation for these schemes and so we lobbied the government for stricter rules.
“The publication of our code of practice marks another important step towards establishing a market with stronger safeguards and which pension savers can have confidence in.
“We are being clear about our expectations of master trusts and will not authorise schemes which fail to meet the necessary standards, both in applications for authorisation and during supervision.
“If an existing master trust chooses not to apply for authorisation or does not meet the authorisation criteria it will have to wind up and exit the market. New master trust schemes have to be authorised before they can begin to operate in the market.”
