The permanent structure of The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) organisational changes as part of its ‘strategic shift’ are expected to be in place by October, TPR director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice, Louise Davey has revealed.

Speaking at the Pensions Age Spring Conference, Davey explained that the transition to its new structure and the creation of three new regulatory functions (regulatory compliance; market oversight; and strategy, policy and analysis) was underway.

“We have the new interim structure in place that came in from 1 April and the ambition is for the permanent structure with permanently appointed executive directors of those three new areas to be in place by October time,” she stated.

During the session, Davey also outlined plans to engage with professional trustee firms with a more supervisory-style approach, stating that the regulator would be working a lot more closely with professional trustee firms as the market consolidates.

She stated that the professional trustee market had changed, with 13 “key players” overseeing more and more schemes.

“With large professional trustee firms, some backed by private equity, they’re overseeing and ever-increasing proportion of the market,” Davey said.

“Mergers of existing firms are concentrating the market, leaving 13 key players covering half of schemes.”

In light of these changes, TPR will start interacting with these trustee firms differently, seeking to adopt a more supervisory-style approach, “very similar to the approach we’ve taken with administration firms”, Davey explained.

“This will allow us to get a much more effective oversight of the market that we regulate in a much more efficient way,” she continued.

“So, moving away from having many, many scheme-on-scheme interactions and engaging through those professional trustee firms where they are the representatives.”

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