Legal Landscape

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is a public body established by the Pensions Act 2004 to make sure that pension schemes within the UK are run properly and can provide secure benefits for their members upon retirement. TPR has powers to "educate, enable, and enforce", and is responsible for promoting good scheme administration. The Regulator is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

TPR's oversight of public service pension schemes, including the Firefighters' Pension Schemes, was introduced by schedule 4 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013.

While there are a wide range of resources available on the TPR website, we have highlighted some of the most relevant in the table below.

Anyone involved in the governance and administration of FPS can sign up to use the Public Service toolkit to learn about managing public service pension schemes and to increase their knowledge and understanding.

Document Description Date
Survey of pension scheme administrators 2020-21 (PDF, 72 pages, 3,230kb) Report of findings from the 2020-21 survey which aimed to give TPR a greater understanding of the challenges administrators face with technology, resources and data, and how TPR can support them to improve standards and best practice. May 2022
Governance and administration risks in public service pension schemes: an engagement report (HTML) Findings from TPR's engagement with 10 LGPS funds, selected from across the UK, to understand scheme managers’ approaches to a number of key risks.  September 2019
Record keeping (HTML) A complete guide to record keeping, from measuring and improving your scheme data, to managing data security risks. Undated (2019)
An essential guide to issuing ABS (PDF, 18 pages, 121kb) An essential guide to issuing annual benefit statements. November 2018
ABS checklist (PDF, 2 pages, 30kb) Checklist: preparing annual benefit statements for public service pension schemes. November 2018
Key information to provide to members (PDF, 4 pages, 53kb) Further information about what to communicate to members including annual benefit statements, benefit statements on request and basic scheme information. November 2018
Scheme return bulletin (PDF, 7 pages, 124kb) A compliance and enforcement bulletin focusing on the importance of the annual scheme return. July 2017
A quick guide to information that must be provided to TPR (PDF, 3 pages, 85kb) A quick guide outlining the kind of information that must be provided and why, as well as some best practice tips. June 2016
Compliance and enforcement policy (PDF, 23 pages, 136kb) TPR's policy on compliance and enforcement for public service pension schemes June 2015
Code of practice 14 (PDF, 67 pages, 410kb) Code of practice no. 14. Governance and administration of public service pension schemes. April 2015
The essential guide to the public service code (PDF, 8 pages, 46kb) A guide providing an overview of Code of practice 14 and where to find further information. January 2015
Regulatory strategy - public service pension schemes (PDF, 13 pages, 103kb) Strategy setting out TPR's approach to regulating public service pension schemes in line with statutory objectives. January 2015
A quick guide for public service pension board members (PDF, 4 pages, 63kb) A quick guide to the role of being a member of a public service pension board. July 2014
A quick guide to public service pension boards (PDF, 4 pages, 84kb) A quick guide to the role of the pension boards that oversee public service schemes. July 2014