On the go: The £2.2bn Mercer Master Trust has gained authorisation from the Pensions Regulator. The trust has 71,000 savers in the UK and is the 11th trust to gain the watchdog’s approval. 

Commenting, Alan Pickering, chair of Bestrustees and of the Mercer Master Trust, said: “Reaching this important milestone has required a considerable amount of hard work on the part of the trustees, their advisers and the staff at Mercer. This authorisation will help improve the outcomes for both members and participating employers. 

“As trustees, we do not regard this as job done. Authorisation is an event, while good governance must be an ongoing process.” 

Authorisation creates safeguards around master trusts – which have a total of 14m members – by ensuring they are run by fit and proper people and have the right systems, processes, plans and finances in place.

The process to authorisation is slow, with 27 trusts still awaiting authorisation, including some of the UK’s biggest pension schemes such as Nest and The People’s Pension. 

The complete list of pension schemes that have gained master trust authorisation is below and appears on TPR’s website:

  • The BlueSky Pension Scheme

  • The Crystal Trust

  • Fidelity

  • Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust

  • Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust (RAS)

  • LifeSight

  • Mercer Master Trust

  • The Pensions Trust (TPT Retirement Solutions)

  • Standard Life DC Master Trust

  • Stanplan A

  • Universities Superannuation Scheme

Thirty-eight master trusts originally applied for authorisation, while nine schemes have exited the market so far, and a further 34 have notified the watchdog of a triggering event to exit the market and will transfer their members to an alternative master trust or other appropriate vehicle.

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