Pensions Regulator to launch new trusteeship strategy following introduction of Pension Schemes Bill

On June 5, 2025, the Regulator announced that it plans to launch a new strategy for trusteeship following the introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill to Parliament.

In a keynote speech to the Pensions Management Institute, Nausicaa Delfas, the Regulator's Chief Executive Officer, welcomed the Bill and noted that the measures, such as those relating to guided retirement and surplus extraction, "will radically reshape" the pensions market and the role of trusteeship. 

The Regulator hopes that its new strategy will drive up standards of trusteeship which it considers need "to come into line with other professions and corporate governance standards". The Regulator will also work with the Government on its planned consultation on trusteeship and governance, expected to be launched later this year.

In addition to the new trusteeship strategy, the Regulator intends to develop higher standards of accreditation for trustees and an assurance framework to ensure that the effectiveness of trustee boards is reviewed every two to three years. The Regulator will extend its supervision to build formal relationships with the largest professional trustee firms and expand its Market Oversight approach to administration. A report setting out the findings of the Regulator's engagement with 15 administrators will be published in August.

Ahead of the introduction of the value for money (VfM) framework, the Regulator and the FCA will launch a joint market-wide data collection exercise. The voluntary exercise, under which "major DC schemes" will be asked for detailed asset allocation information, will run annually until the VfM disclosure date is confirmed.

The Regulator is also considering how it can reduce unnecessary regulatory burden on pension schemes and plans to review the information it requires from pension schemes, aiming to eliminate requests that do not directly contribute to better outcomes for savers.