Research: Defined Contribution trust-based pension schemes research

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published its annual survey of defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.

Key findings

• Two-fifths of schemes took account of climate change when formulating their investment strategies and approach, an increase from 2019.
• The proportion of schemes that had considered winding up increased since 2019.
• A third of schemes had all 10 of the recommended cyber security controls in place, and three-quarters had at least half of them.
• More than a third of schemes did not measure the performance of their administrators and the majority had little knowledge of their accreditations and standards.
• Approaching half of schemes were aware of the new CMA duties and more than a quarter had read TPR’s supporting guides.
• Since 2019 there has been an increase in the proportion of members in schemes meeting KGR 5 (default investment strategy) but a decrease for KGR 2 (value for members assessment).

This report summarises results from TPR’s annual survey of trust-based occupational DC pension schemes, carried out between January and March 2020. The survey was conducted by OMB Research, an independent market research agency, on behalf of TPR.