On the go: The Pensions Regulator has reminded trustees of the need for appropriate monitoring and contingency planning to be able to continue to run their schemes amid a coronavirus outbreak.
In a statement published on its website on Thursday, the watchdog stated that it is “engaging with the pensions industry to understand the pressures it faces from Covid-19 and to help minimise any impact on savers”.
The coronavirus outbreak was labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, as more than 100 countries have registered cases.
Last week, analysis by Hymans Robertson showed that market turmoil added £100bn to the UK’s defined benefit deficit in a week.
TPR expects trustees to “have appropriate monitoring and contingency planning in place, and to be alive to risks that would have significant consequences for their scheme and members”.
This should include a business continuity plan, which sets out what actions would be taken if certain events take place that would impact the running of their scheme, it stated.
Trustees should also understand their service providers’ business continuity arrangements, TPR added.
Scheme trustees should also be aware of what contingency is in place to mitigate any under-resource due to, for example, increases in work volumes or unavailable staff.
“They will also want to establish which scheme activities would be prioritised in the event of under-resourcing – for example, pensioner payments, retirement processing and bereavement services – and confirm this with their administrator/providers,” the watchdog noted.
The regulator is currently engaging with key administrators to understand their current preparedness, it added.
