Date - 7 May 2025
Request
I request the following information:
- A list of all active and historic UK pension schemes registered with or regulated by TPR (including workplace pension schemes and master trusts), covering both trust-based and contract-based schemes where applicable.
- Where available, for each pension scheme listed:
- the name and status of the scheme
- the name of the pension provider
- the employers that have used, or are currently using, the scheme
- the type of scheme (e.g. DC, DB, master trust, GPP)
- the dates during which the scheme was active
- any available scheme reference numbers (e.g. PSR, FCA)
Response
I confirm that we hold some of the information you have requested. However, the information you have requested is exempt from disclosure.
As we have been given strong powers to demand documents and other information from trustees, employers and others, those powers are also balanced by restrictions on how we disclose the information provided to us. The type of information you have requested would be ‘restricted information’. Restricted information is defined at section 82(4) of the Pensions Act 2004 (PA04) as:
‘…information obtained by the Regulator in the exercise of its functions which relates to the business or other affairs of any person’.
Under section 82(5) of the PA04 it is a criminal offence to disclose such information except as permitted under that Act.
Whilst the FoIA is based on the presumption of releasing information, section 44(1)(a) of the FoIA provides an absolute exemption to the requirement to disclose any information if its disclosure is prohibited by or under any enactment. In this case, section 82 of the PA04 prohibits disclosure and we are unable to disclose the requested information. This exemption is absolute and does not require a public interest assessment be undertaken.
Please note, TPR does not collect all of this data for contract schemes/GPPs.
Duty to provide advice and assistance
Section 16 of FoIA requires a public authority to provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the authority to do so, to persons who propose to make, or have made, requests for information to it.
You may wish to review our official statistics publications. These are separated into two reports. One provides an overview of the occupational DC trust-based landscape in the UK, reporting on memberships and assets. The other provides an overview of the occupational defined benefit (DB) and hybrid scheme landscape in the UK, reporting on scheme status, membership levels and assets under management. Links to these reports can be found below.
Occupational defined benefit landscape in the UK 2024
Occupational defined contribution landscape in the UK 2024
In your request you have stated the reason this information is important is for individuals to locate lost pensions. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) operate a tracing service to support individuals search for a lost pension. This service can be found at the founding link.