A summary of The Pensions Regulator (TPR) Board meeting in March 2023.
Apologies, welcomes, declarations of conflicts of interest
The Chair welcomed everybody to the meeting and informed the Board that CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) would be joining the meeting virtually. A declaration of interest had been received in advance of the meeting in respect of an item in the CEO report, and an observer to the meeting was required to recuse themselves for one of the agenda items.
Chair's statement
The Chair updated the Board on recent activities, including meetings with the DWP’s Deputy Director Personal and Professional Learning, the Public Bodies reviewer Mary Starks and the CEO of the Pensions Authority Ireland.
Audit Risk and Assurance Committee (ARAC) bi-annual report
The Chair of ARAC gave a report to the Board on the committee’s recent activities, which included discussion of systemic risk, outstanding historical actions and amber/red and amber internal audit reports. He also reported on the results from the committee’s annual effectiveness review.
Remuneration and People Committee (RaPCo) bi-annual report
The Chair of RaPCo gave a report to the Board on recent meetings, which had dealt with topics such as CEO and executive director objectives and bonus nominations, the Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) annual review and progress with the People and Culture Programme. It also explored strategic people risks, approved the committee’s annual review and noted that the committee would be reviewing the organisation’s bonuses, reward framework and performance management system in May.
CEO report
The CEO updated the Board on developments in the area of liability driven investments (LDI). The Board noted that TPR was alive to the potential risks to pension schemes and received an update on what the organisation was doing in this area.
The Board received an update on the likely timeline for the implementation of regulations and the code.
Corporate plan
The Board received a further draft of TPR’s Corporate Plan and approved it for publication (published on 21 April 2023). The Board further approved Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measures for publication. Final signoff was delegated to the Chair and CEO.
Richard Moriarty, CEO, CAA
Mr Moriarty shared insights with the Board relating to the CAA’s approach to risk management and aligning risk appetite within the organisation.
Digital Services Delivery programme
The Board received an update on the current position and the work done to define the service landscape, and approved spending for the funding code data collection beta phase and the programme’s core team costs for April to May.
Regulatory grip
This item focussed on the output from recent workshops that measured our current regulatory grip against our risk appetite in relation to nine drivers of saver outcomes. The Board discussed progress and agreed to pass oversight of the work on to the Gateway committee.
Supervision strategy
The Board received an update on work to review TPR’s supervision strategy and noted the high-level indication on direction of travel for the next phase and the outline of the implementation plan.
Any other business
The Chair noted that it was the CEO Charles Counsell’s last Board meeting. She thanked him on behalf of the Board for his many years of service, his contribution to TPR and his absolute prioritisation of the protection of savers.