The responses to the Pensions Regulator’s Review of the form and content of pension scheme report and accounts’ discussion paper have been published.
The main opinions voiced by respondents were that: A distinction should be made between membership disclosure requirements and the stewardship role of pension scheme reports and accounts. Sharing of relevant information is best channelled through other means of communication, for example the summary funding statement or Statutory Money Purchase Illustration, and not the annual report and accounts. Actuarial liabilities should not be included in the scheme accounts. Governance statement should be disclosed, this was considered to be relevant to the accountability of trustees. The proposed changes might result in some additional costs, though for a number of schemes this would be marginal. The benefits of enhanced, meaningful information would outweigh this.
The Pensions Regulator published the discussion paper on 2 June 2006 to discuss the effectiveness of current pension disclosure requirements. Feedback received will inform forthcoming project work being undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Pensions Research Accountants Group (PRAG) and the Accounting Standards Board (ASB).