During quarter 2 of 2019, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has used its enforcement powers 23,409 times to tackle non-compliance, closing a total of 15,726 cases, 6,720 fixed penalty notices were also issued.
Fixed penalty notices are fines of £400 issued by TPR to employers that do not comply with statutory notices, since TPR began keeping records of its compliance and enforcement actions in July 2012, a total of 87,191 fixed penalty notices have been issued.
An escalating penalty notice (EPN) is a daily fine of anything between £50 and £10,000, the amount depends upon how many employees an organisation has. An EPNh is issued when an employer fails to comply with a statutory notice. TPR records show that between April and June 2019, 2,502 EPNs were issued, this makes a grand total of 24,045 from July 2012 to the end of quarter 2 2019, 7,147 compliance notices were also issued during the second quarter of 2019, this makes an astounding total of 159,876 since July 2012.
A substantial number of unpaid contribution notices were also issued, 6,891, these remedy a late or non-payment due to a qualifying pension scheme. Since July 2012, 32,925 unpaid contribution notices have been issued.
TPR’s also reported that it used its powers against trustees, 46 times between April and June 2019, for failing to prepare a compliant chair’s statement, they also carried out 65 inspections and the special procedure, which allows it to act quickly in using its powers where there is immediate risk to members, was used twice in quarter two of 2019.
These figures clearly show that there remains a substantial amount of non-compliance in relation to pensions, which explains why in recent years, TPR have increased their headcount by 12%, with 34% of that increase being allocated to their frontline regulation team.
