The Pensions Regulator: how workplace pensions are supervised

The Pensions Regulator, usually called TPR, is the regulator for workplace pensions in the UK: the schemes your employer signs you up to, the trustees who run them, and the employers who must pay into them¹. It is not the body that regulates your personal pension or your pension provider; that job belongs to the Financial Conduct Authority. TPR's primary focus, in its own words, is "ensuring savers' pension money is protected"¹.

For an ordinary saver, the regulator matters at three moments. First, it enforces the rules that make your employer enrol you and pay in. Second, it authorises and supervises the large multi-employer schemes, called master trusts, that hold most workplace pension money in the UK. Third, it takes enforcement action, including fines of up to £1 million and criminal prosecution, against employers and scheme officials who break pension law². It also chairs the cross-industry fight against pension scams.

What The Pensions Regulator does for workplace pension savers

TPR is the regulator of work-based pension schemes in the UK². Its statutory objectives, set out in law, are to protect members' benefits, to reduce the risk of calls on the Pension Protection Fund, to promote and improve understanding of good administration of work-based schemes, and to maximise employer compliance with automatic enrolment duties. A fifth objective limits the adverse impact of its actions on the sustainable growth of an employer⁷.

In practice this means the regulator sits behind the workplace pension system rather than in front of it. It supervises the trustees who run trust-based schemes, which have a board of trustees overseeing the scheme⁸. It checks that employers meet their automatic enrolment duties. It authorises master trusts before they can operate. And it publishes codes of practice, guidance and expectations that trustees and scheme managers must follow, from how schemes warn members about scams to how they should govern the use of artificial intelligence.

The regulator's own strategy for the years ahead is built around protecting savers' money, and it states that its primary focus must always be on ensuring that pension money is protected¹. It reports annually on progress against its plans and says it will continue to evolve them as the pensions landscape changes⁹.

Which pensions it covers, and where the FCA takes over

The dividing line between the two main pension regulators is the type of scheme, not the type of saver. TPR regulates trust-based pension schemes, which have a board of trustees overseeing the scheme⁸. The FCA regulates contract-based pensions, which involve a contract between an individual and the pension provider⁸. The FCA also regulates financial services firms more widely, including those who provide financial advice on pensions and Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs)⁶.

The FCA's role matters when things go wrong with a provider. If your pension provider was authorised by the FCA and cannot pay your pension, you can get compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)¹¹. FSCS can generally protect pensions provided by UK-regulated insurers that qualify as contracts of long-term insurance¹², and it states plainly that it can only protect you if the FCA has authorised your pension provider¹³. Before switching a pension or taking out a new one, the FSCS guide recommends searching the FCA register to check that it authorises the new provider¹⁴.

The two regulators also work together on newer duties. Both will regulate the pension schemes and providers sharing data with pensions dashboards, and the FCA will authorise and regulate the dashboard operators themselves¹⁵. The wider map of who regulates what in UK finance is set out on the who regulates what page.

Automatic enrolment: making sure your employer enrols you and pays in

Automatic enrolment is the legal duty at the heart of workplace pensions. Your employer must automatically enrol you into a pension scheme and make contributions to your pension if you are eligible for automatic enrolment¹⁶. They must do this unless you are already in a suitable scheme¹⁷. If you earn more than £10,000 a year, even one penny more, and you meet the other criteria, your employer will enrol you¹⁸. Additional earnings such as paid overtime that push a single pay packet over the threshold also count¹⁸.

Even if you are not eligible, you can ask to join, and if you do, your employer has to enrol you and pay into it¹⁹. Employers in the gig economy are expected to recognise and comply with their automatic enrolment responsibilities voluntarily and promptly²⁰.

When you are enrolled, your employer must write to you with specific information: the date they added you to the scheme, the type of scheme and who runs it, how much they will contribute, how much you will pay in, and how you can leave¹⁶. Your employer will also write to explain how the changes affect you¹⁹.

The scheme itself must meet certain rules to qualify for automatic enrolment. It must not require staff to do anything to join, or to choose their own investments, and it must either be regulated by the FCA or have been independently reviewed, a check known as master trust assurance²¹.

TPR is the body responsible for ensuring that employers comply with these automatic enrolment duties²⁰. If you are concerned about the way your employer is dealing with automatic enrolment, you can contact the regulator¹⁶.

Reporting missing contributions: the 90-day rule

If money has been deducted from your pay but has not reached your pension scheme, that is the most common problem savers report. TPR's rule is simple: wait 90 days before reporting missing payments, and report once your pension contributions have not been paid into your scheme for 90 days or more³. The reason for the wait is that it can take up to three months for money to be paid into your pension³.

Before reporting, speak to your employer first. If you feel unable to do that, or you still have concerns after speaking to them, then report the matter to the regulator³. To report, you will need the name and address of your employer, their PAYE number if they have one, how much money you think is missing and when it should have been paid, and any evidence you want to send³. You must be ordinarily working in the UK to use the reporting route³.

The steps TPR expects a saver to take before it steps in on missing contributions.

One thing saves you the job entirely. If you have received a letter from your scheme provider telling you that your employer has been reported to the regulator, you do not need to report it yourself: the regulator is already aware and investigating²². The information you provide is used to assess whether your employer is meeting their automatic enrolment duties²².

For employers, the stakes are real. Failure to maintain payment of the correct contributions to a scheme may result in penalties from the regulator, and an employer may be fined if it does not pay by the time agreed with the scheme provider²³.

Reporting fraud or a badly run scheme

Missing contributions are not the only thing you can report. TPR asks to be told if you have a concern that relates to your workplace pension, including dishonesty or fraud in your workplace pension scheme, or significant concerns about how the scheme is being run²⁴. You can report concerns about your employer or workplace pension scheme in confidence if you think they are involved in wrongdoing in an area the regulator covers⁶. Reports can be made online, or by phone, email or post if you cannot report online⁶.

For a general report of wrongdoing, you need the name and address of who you are reporting and the evidence you want to send²⁴. The information you provide is used to assess whether there has been potential dishonesty, fraud or other significant concerns²⁴. Note that missing payments and employer non-compliance with pension duties are reported using different, dedicated forms²⁴.

There is also a separate statutory duty on people holding certain roles connected with a pension scheme, such as an employee of a scheme, a trustee or an adviser, to report breaches of the law to the regulator in some circumstances⁶. If your concern is about how your scheme is run rather than wrongdoing, the scheme usually has an internal dispute resolution procedure (IDRP) through which you can raise it⁶.

Suspected fraud has its own route. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, fraud or concerns about a potential scam are reported to Report Fraud, the national reporting service²⁵. The rules have tightened over time: tougher rules to stop scammers opening fraudulent pension schemes were introduced in the 2018 Finance Act²⁶.

Master trusts must be authorised to operate

Most people saving into a workplace pension through an employer are in a master trust, probably without knowing it. Master trusts are trust-based occupational pension schemes which seek to generate economies of scale by serving multiple employers, who may be entirely unrelated²⁷. In plain terms, one large scheme run by a professional trustee board, used by many different employers.

These schemes cannot simply set up and start taking contributions. TPR is responsible for authorising and supervising master trusts against five criteria²⁷:

• the people running the scheme must be fit and proper
• the scheme must be financially sustainable
• the funder of the scheme must meet certain requirements
• the scheme must have adequate systems and processes
• the scheme has to prepare a continuity strategy

Any scheme that opts out of applying for authorisation, or which fails to meet the required standards on application, is required to wind up and transfer its members to an authorised scheme²⁷. The scale of the sector explains why the checks matter. In 2024 there were 33 authorised master trusts, treated as 51 schemes when each section is counted separately, holding 28.0 million memberships, which was 91% of non-micro defined contribution and hybrid schemes²⁸. By 2025 master trusts held 30.1 million memberships (92%) and £208 billion in assets (83%)⁵.

The sector is also being pushed to consolidate further. The Pension Schemes Bill will require DC master trusts to hold at least £25 billion in assets under management in a main scale default arrangement from 2030, and TPR has told master trusts to prepare for these future scale requirements²⁹.

Enforcement powers: fines of up to £1 million and criminal prosecution

TPR's supervision is backed by real teeth. Under the Pension Schemes Act 2021 it can impose civil penalties, undertake criminal prosecutions, or order relevant individuals to make payments into the scheme⁴. The Act gave it a new power to issue civil penalties of up to £1 million⁴, and it introduced three new criminal offences alongside that penalty power³⁰.

The detail of the penalty framework matters to anyone on the receiving end, and to savers wondering how far the regulator can go:

The dashboard penalties apply across the UK: the Northern Ireland regulations set the same figures, £5,000 if the person is an individual and £50,000 if the person is a body corporate, including corporate trustees, a Scottish partnership or any other person who is not an individual³¹. The same Northern Ireland rules require trustees or managers of schemes with 100 or more relevant members to register with the Money and Pensions Service and connect to the dashboards ecosystem by the connection deadline, in compliance with the published standards³¹. The mandatory connection deadline for pension providers and schemes in scope of the legislation is 31 October 2026³².

For savers, the point of these powers is not the figures but what they achieve: an employer that refuses to pay contributions can be fined, and individuals who damage a scheme can be prosecuted or ordered to put money back in.

Pension scams: how the regulator tackles them and how to spot one

Pension scams are a standing priority for the regulator. Its strategy states it is primarily, though not solely, concerned with seven kinds of pension scams, and its aims are to educate savers about the threat, to encourage higher standards that prevent practices leading to saver harm, and to fight fraud through the prevention, disruption and punishment of criminals¹.

Much of that work runs through the Pension Scams Action Group (PSAG), a multi-agency taskforce bringing together government departments, agencies, regulators, law enforcement bodies and representatives of the pension industry, which TPR chairs³³. The group protects savers by improving public awareness of pension scams, enhancing the intelligence picture, carrying out enforcement and regulatory interventions, identifying legislative actions, pursuing non-legislative interventions and providing victim support³³. TPR's strategy also commits it to setting up a dedicated and fully funded PSAG scams hub to co-ordinate intelligence and direct fraud disruption and prevention activity, and to opening a regulatory sandbox so industry can test solutions for scam prevention and intelligence gathering¹.

The regulator is also using technology on savers' behalf. An AI-enabled process has assessed over 2,000 sites and enabled the removal of 29 high-risk scam websites⁹, and TPR states it will continue to use AI and advanced analytics in its regulatory work to better identify risks, target scams and protect savers⁹. To date it has reviewed more than 1,000 suspicious websites in this way³⁴. In March 2026 it issued a scam alert to more than 35,000 pension industry professionals, in collaboration with the City of London Police, urging vigilance after a rise in impersonation fraud against pension savers². An earlier industry alert, from September 2025, warned trustees and administrators about unauthorised access to scheme members' accounts using hacking and impersonation techniques³³.

Schemes themselves carry duties here. Governing bodies should take steps to ensure their members are aware of the risks of pension scams, including providing clear information on how to spot a scam in relevant communications such as the retirement wake-up pack and annual benefit statements³⁵. TPR's strategy sets the expectation that schemes include a pension scam warning in every annual benefit statement, with a link to ScamSmart¹. More than 650 organisations have signed the pledge to combat pension scams²⁵. After scams are identified, independent trustees are often appointed to pension schemes by the regulator³⁶.

Where the regulator's role ends: complaints and the Pensions Ombudsman

TPR supervises schemes and employers, but it does not settle individual disputes. If you have a complaint about how your workplace pension is managed, you can complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman¹¹. The Pensions Ombudsman deals with some complaints about the administration of workplace pensions³⁷, and can help if you have a complaint about your pension scheme⁶.

The route to the ombudsman has a required first step. Before applying, you must first make a formal complaint directly with the relevant party, such as the trustees or manager of your pension scheme, the administrator or an employer³⁸. Schemes usually have an internal dispute resolution procedure (IDRP) through which you can raise your concern⁶, and TPR has published a code of practice on dispute resolution and reasonable periods that gives practical examples of the time limits in the legislation³⁹.

Complaints must climb this ladder in order; the ombudsman comes last, not first.

Once the ombudsman decides, that is the end of the road in most cases. Its decision is final and binding on all the parties to the complaint or dispute, and can only be changed by appealing to the appropriate court on a point of law³⁹. Its legal basis is long-standing: it may investigate and determine any complaint in relation to the administration of a scheme, involving an authorised complainant and the administrator of the scheme⁴¹. Complaints can be closed in several ways, including as invalid, out of jurisdiction, withdrawn, resolved, discontinued or determined³⁸.

If your complaint is about the regulator's own conduct rather than your pension, that is a separate matter from a pension complaint, and the routes for complaining about regulators generally are covered on the complaining about the FCA, PRA or Bank of England page and in the guide to consumer protection. For the wider picture of pension policy changes still in progress, including the Pension Schemes Bill and the value for money framework, see pension reforms.