DC pension schemes: Governance standards and charge controls

07 September 2015

Changes to the law from 6 April 2015 mean that many occupational defined contribution pension schemes offering money purchase benefits will have to meet new requirements.

The key points to the changes are to:

• Ensure the scheme meets new governance standards and explains how it has done so in an annual chair’s statement.
• Ensure the scheme has an appointed chair who signs the annual statement.
• Ensure the scheme is compliant with the new charge controls where it is being used by employers to comply with their new duties under the automatic enrolment legislation.

The Pensions Regulator has developed a number of products to help with the changes, including an essential guide to governance standards and charge controls, a list of frequently asked questions, and a checklist to help complete the new questions that have been added to the DC scheme return as a result of the changes.