The Pensions Regulator has published a corporate strategy centred around the concept that people have a sustainable income in retirement.
TPR acknowledged that while automatic enrolment has transformed retirement saving in the UK, with 23 million people now saving into a workplace pension, the wider system is still “unfinished business” with 15 million working-age people under-saving for retirement.
TPR will focus on delivering the greatest impact for members across three areas: raising governance standards, driving value for money, and improving sustainable outcomes at retirement.
The Pensions Commission will make recommendations to government in 2027 that consider adequacy, fairness and sustainability, helping to guide the long-term future of the system to 2050 and beyond, and TPR’s refreshed corporate strategy sets out how the regulator will navigate the next five years within this context.
Within TPR’s updated corporate strategy were pledges to publish guidance on the responsible adoption of AI, create a workplan to ensure schemes have trustee and governance structures that enable a diversified range of investments, and to publish and implement a Climate Change and Systemic Risk Management Approach.
Following the passing of the Pension Schemes Bill, TPR’s Regulatory Roadmap will also look to provide the industry with visibility of when TPR and partners in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Financial Conduct Authority will be engaging on pensions reform, including value for money, guided retirement, collective defined contribution schemes, and defined benefit surplus release.
Emma Douglas, chair of TPR, says: “We are moving towards a system of fewer, larger, well-run schemes, able to invest in diverse assets in the interests of members, and potentially the UK economy.
“As the market consolidates and evolves, our role is not simply to respond to change but to actively shape it. We will set clear direction, use our regulatory powers with intent, and influence how the market develops so that scale and innovation are harnessed in service of better member outcomes.”
TPR’s updated corporate strategy also identified ongoing gaps in the UK pensions sector, such as that only one in five self-employed workers currently save into a pension scheme.
