CAHN workplace pension schemes
FOI reference - FOI-394
Date - 30 July 2025
Request
I appreciate you will not be able to tell me of any previous or current investigations in CAHN's operation of workplace pension schemes but I would appreciate being informed via this FOI whether there have been any previous or current concerns raised about CAHN and issues regarding employees pension contributions, and / or any concerns about the integrity of CAHN in using workplace pension schemes.
Response
We neither confirm nor deny that we hold information falling within the description specified in your request.
The reason that we cannot confirm or deny that we hold the information is because disclosure of the sort of information requested, if held, is prohibited under an enactment, save in certain circumstances which do not apply here.
As we have been given strong powers to demand documents and other information from trustees, employers and others, those powers are also balanced by restrictions on how we disclose the information provided to us. The type of information you have requested would be ‘restricted information’. Restricted information is defined at section 82(4) of the Pensions Act 2004 (PA04) as:
‘…information obtained by the Regulator in the exercise of its functions which relates to the business or other affairs of any person’.
Under section 82(5) of the PA04 it is a criminal offence to disclose such information except as permitted under that Act.
Whilst the FoIA is based on the presumption of releasing information, section 44(1)(a) of the FoIA provides an absolute exemption to the requirement to disclose any information if its disclosure is prohibited by or under any enactment. In this case, section 82 of the PA04 prohibits disclosure and we are unable to disclose the requested information. This exemption is absolute and does not require a public interest assessment be undertaken. This response should not be taken as any indication of whether or not TPR holds the information requested.
Duty to provide further assistance
As indicated on our website if you have an issue with your pension scheme or employer you should always try to sort it out with them first. We note that you have approached your scheme to no avail and would encourage you to contact the Pensions Ombudsman – see further below. TPR’s remit is at scheme level which means we do not intervene in individual member disputes. However, we take seriously any allegations of improper conduct or incompetence by trustees or managers of workplace occupational pension schemes.
Pension scheme complaints
If your complaint is not resolved by your pension scheme trustees or managers in accordance with timescales set out in the scheme’s dispute procedure you can also get help from the Pensions Ombudsman. Their role is to help resolve individual member complaints and disputes with their pension schemes.