Chair’s statement

General code in force: 28 March 2024

Basic principles of the chair’s statement

1. The law requires governing bodies of certain occupational pension schemes that provide DC benefits to prepare a chair’s statement within seven months of the end of each scheme year.
2. Compliance with this requirement must be declared on the scheme return submitted to us each year.
3. In the chair’s statement, governing bodies must set out a variety of information, including describing and explaining how they have met certain legislative governance and charge standards¹. See our Communicating and reporting guide.
4. Governing bodies should ensure the statement is written using the principles set out in General principles for member communications.
5. The law requires the chair to sign the statement on behalf of the governing body.
6. Failure to produce a statement signed by the chair that meets the requirements set out in the legislation will result in an automatic penalty of between £500 and £2,000²,which the governing body will be personally liable to pay.
7. As a matter of good practice, governing bodies may wish to document actions as they occur and to hold evidence of any actions described within the statement.

Making the chair’s statement available

8. Governing bodies must make the statement available upon request and as part of the scheme report and accounts.
9. Certain parts of the statement must be publicly available, free of charge, on a website.
10. We have set out in paragraph 11 the areas that must be published online. However, in many cases it will be appropriate for governing bodies to publish the statement online in its entirety. Governing bodies may wish to take steps to conceal sensitive information that is immaterial to the statement, such as the chair’s signature.
11. Parts of the statement that must be published online³:
    1. The statement of investment principles for the default arrangement, and the information set out in the chair’s statement around the review of those arrangements.
    2. The level(s) of charges and transaction costs paid by members for each default arrangement and fund that members are able to select.
    3. The ‘illustrative examples’ included in the statement that show the effects of charges and transaction costs on members’ accrued rights.
    4. Details of any unavailable transaction costs and steps being taken to obtain that information in future.
    5. The explanation of the assessment of whether the scheme represents good value for members.

Further detail of the information that must be published online and how to present this can be found in the DWP’s statutory guidance.

Legal references

¹ Regulation 23 Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations 1996 [Regulation 23 Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997]

² Regulation 28 Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015 [Regulation 28 Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015]

³ Regulation 29A(2) Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2013 [Regulation 29A(2) Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014]

Related content

• Communicating and reporting: detailed guidance