On the go: The Pensions Regulator achieved 10 of 14 key performance indicators in its year to March 31 2022, and has stated that it is aiming to boost its headcount after staff numbers ended the period below forecast levels.
The watchdog met goals including those aimed at helping savers achieve value for money and overseeing market innovation, the latter secured with support for the pensions dashboards initiative and the interim regime for pension superfunds.
However, the regulator missed its target of completing a second consultation phase on principles for a revised defined benefit code, with the aim of finalising this in 2022.
It said that its dependency on the funding regulations being consulted on meant it would not be able to publish a draft DB code until late summer 2022.
TPR had also pledged to have 10 open scam-related activities at the end of the year. It eventually finished with seven, the regulator attributing this outcome to its decision to move additional resources to support two of its more complex criminal cases.
The regulator said that it had not met its goal on delivering new systems to support its regulatory functions, having not passed some of the Government Digital Service’s assessments at its first attempt. It also fell below its employee engagement ambitions, with a 72 per cent level remaining in line with last year’s result.
“We deliberately set ourselves ambitious goals and have put in place clear and detailed plans for how to close the gap between where we are now and where we want to be,” chief executive Charles Counsell said in TPR’s annual report.
The regulator ended the period with more staff than before, but with a headcount that was below its forecast. This, along with changes to some of its IT projects, meant that the regulator closed the period with an underspend of £7.7mn versus a budget of £104.5mn.
“We are confident that our recently launched targeted recruitment campaign will enable us to fill some of the more specialist and technical roles we need,” Counsell said.
