We have issued our first fines against a number of master trust schemes for failing to complete a chair’s statement.

The trustee of Nurture Master Trust, MC Trustees Ltd, and the trustees of The Save and Prosper Funds were both fined after failing to prepare a chair’s statement. We have issued a regulatory intervention report about both cases.

Completion of the chair’s statement by trustees is a basic requirement of good governance and we expect trustees to comply. We will enforce the law and impose a penalty where trustees fail to prepare an annual governance statement signed by the chair of trustees. These requirements apply equally to trustees of master trusts.

These latest fines result from our ongoing focus on ensuring that trustees comply with the requirements of good governance.

Meanwhile, TPR was successful in a legal challenge concerning the Silentnight Group DB scheme. A group of claimants failed to obtain permission to bring judicial review proceedings against TPR in relation to an ongoing anti-avoidance case concerning the Silentnight Group DB scheme, involving acquisition of the bed manufacturer by US private equity group, the HIG Group, in May 2011.

At the time Silentnight operated a DB pension scheme that was in deficit. A judgment by the Administrative Court agreed with our submission that judicial review is not the appropriate forum to resolve the issues raised by the claimants.

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