TPR’s policy relating to member nominated trustees

FOI reference - FOI - 423

Date - 23 October 2025

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Request

I would like to make a Freedom of Information request to access information about the TPR’s policy development relating to member nominated trustees and why it is not in your guidance that deferred members should be eligible for election (as opposed to active/pensioner members).

Response

I confirm that we hold the information you have requested. However, some of the information you have requested is exempt from disclosure.
The arrangements for member-nominated trustee (MNT) appointments are set out in the general code of practice. The general code of practice is based on the legal requirement set by Parliament, contained within Section 241 of the Pension Act 2004 (PA04) which states: 

241 - Requirement for member-nominated trustees

1. The trustees of an occupational trust scheme must secure —
   1. that, within a reasonable period of the commencement date, arrangements are in place which provide for at least one-third of the total number of trustees to be member-nominated trustees, and
   2. that those arrangements are implemented.
2.  “Member-nominated trustees” are trustees of an occupational trust scheme who—
   1. are nominated as the result of a process in which at least the following are eligible to participate
      1. all the active members of the scheme or an organisation which adequately represents the active members, and
      2. all the pensioner members of the scheme or an organisation which adequately represents the pensioner members, and
   2. are selected as a result of a process which involves some or all of the members of the scheme.

Our codes of practice are not statements of the law. However, they do set out our expectations of how governing bodies should comply with their legal duties. In many instances, the code is not prescriptive about methods that governing bodies should use to meet our expectations, in recognition that different approaches may be appropriate for different schemes. In relation to MNTs the general code of practice is permissive and allows schemes to go further than the legislation if they choose. As outlined in the general code of practice, “arrangements for the nomination of prospective MNTs; … may include a process for deferred members to nominate potential candidates for MNT positions”. 

The regulations that introduced the requirement for schemes to have MNTs are 20 years old, and the associated explanatory notes are no longer readily available. However, reasons for not automatically allowing deferred members to automatically take part in MNT elections include that they may work for direct competitors of the sponsoring employer. Trustees frequently have access to market sensitive commercial and financial information, and it was considered inappropriate to fore employers into this position.

Exemptions

I have conducted an initial search of our systems which returned 1900 items falling under your request for information. Reviewing and extracting this information to ensure it is relevant to your request would take in excess of 18 hours.

Under section 12 of the FoIA, public authorities are not obliged to comply with a request for information where the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit in the Fees Regulations. This, for TPR, is set at £450. Staff costs are fixed at £25 per person per hour. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether we hold the information, locating, retrieving, and extracting it.

Duty to provide advice and assistance

As the requirement is part of legislation, it may have been discussed in Parliament. This could potentially lead it to be accessible on Hansard. Hansard holds the official reports of all Parliamentary debates.

As set out in the Defined Benefit Pensions Schemes: Government Response, the Government has committed to “consult on measures to improve governance of trust-based schemes later this year. This consultation will consider how TPR and the Department of Work and Pensions could provide additional support for those lay trustees who require it”. 

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