Welcome to your weekly update from the A&O Shearman Pensions team, covering all the latest legal and regulatory developments in the world of workplace pensions.
TPR: Administrative standards improving but more action needed
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a market oversight report examining findings from its engagement with pension scheme administrators over the past year. The report observes that there has been an increased focus on the value of administration in recent years, leading to improvement in many areas. TPR highlights the importance of administration as a critical driver of good outcomes for savers. The report sets out a number of areas of focus for future improvement and action points for trustees, including the following:
- Trustees should ensure that they have a good understanding of administration and take responsibility for driving up administration standards.
- Administration contracts should be periodically reviewed. Service level agreements should prioritise accuracy and member experience, not just speed. Alternatives like end-to-end process measurement and member journey mapping should be considered. Contracts should, from the start, include provisions to ensure smooth transition to a new provider.
- Trustees and administrators should consider the increased demand likely to follow the launch of pensions dashboards and whether their current administration service and engagement channels will remain effective.
- Schemes and administrators must have robust cyber security practices in place. They should also consider whether they have effective governance structures to deal with AI adoption.
Read the market oversight report.
TPR: Schemes must defend against impersonation fraud
TPR's latest blog post highlights an increase in sophisticated impersonation fraud targeting pension savers. TPR warns that fraudsters are increasingly hacking members' email accounts to access correspondence with schemes, then using stolen data to impersonate members and change beneficiary bank details or set up fake pension accounts to steal savings. Scammers also impersonate trusted organisations to try to access data. TPR warns that these attacks are becoming more convincing, aided by advances in AI.
TPR calls for schemes to take action to protect members, including:
- Review and strengthen security protocols, especially around member verification and account access.
- Report suspicious activity to Action Fraud.
- Support awareness campaigns by including fraud warnings on member portals and annual statements.
- Encourage members to secure their accounts, use strong passwords and two-step verification, and remain vigilant to fraud attempts.
ICO: New guidance on encryption
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published updated guidance on encryption of data. The guidance gives information on complying with data protection requirements when using encryption. It is aimed at data protection officers (DPOs) and those with specific data protection responsibilities. Schemes should ensure that where encryption is being used, for example to protect member data, this guidance is being followed.
Pensions academy online, Tuesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 9, 2025
Our next Pensions Academy Online sessions will take place on Tuesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 9, 2025. Each webinar begins at 9.30am and will last approximately one hour. We will be covering:
Legal update—Tuesday, October 7, 2025
We'll round up all the latest developments and outline what's on the pensions horizon.
Pensions 2030 and beyond: preparing now for the future landscape—Thursday, October 9, 2025
The Pension Schemes Bill currently going through Parliament heralds significant change across the UK pensions landscape and more could be coming down the tracks. We'll look at how the big picture fits together, from the perspectives of trustees, employers and members, to help you plot a route from here to there.
If you would like to attend, please register here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
