Identifying persons for the fit and proper assessment

Guidance for trustees of collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes on identifying roles we will assess for fitness and propriety.

Updated: 31 July 2026

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Overview

The CDC code of practice sets out our expectations for identifying roles subject to the fit and proper assessment. 

You will need to identify all persons who carry out those roles as part of your authorisation application. We will assess whether each person is fit and proper to act in their role in relation to the CDC scheme.

This guidance will help you identify those carrying out the roles we must assess, which are:

• the person who establishes the CDC scheme
• trustees
• persons who can appoint or remove trustees
• persons who can amend the trust deed
• the scheme proprietor (multi-employer CDC schemes only)
• persons who promote or market the scheme (multi-employer CDC schemes only)
• chief financial officer (multi-employer CDC schemes only)
• chief investment officer (multi-employer CDC schemes only)

The guidance will also help you identify those carrying out roles that we may assess, which are:

• whether a person who exercises a ‘core function’ (a strategic, executive or management role) on behalf of a person acting in one or more of the above roles (multi-employer CDC schemes only)
• any individuals who have significant control over the scheme proprietor (multi-employer CDC schemes only)

These are important roles that are responsible for correctly setting up the scheme and ensuring members’ interests are protected. The roles should be clearly identifiable in the trust deed. The ‘person’ in one or more of these roles may be a company or an individual. 

Below, we outline the types of person we will assess for fitness and propriety, and the details you should provide to us.

Types of person to be included

A ‘person’ can include:

• an individual
• a ‘legal person’ such as a company or a partnership with separate legal personality

You may need to take legal advice on whether the ‘person’ we need to assess is an individual or a ‘legal person’.

Individuals

You should provide details of any individual appointed to carry out a role that we will assess for fitness and propriety.

Corporate entities

You should provide details of any corporate entity identified as being a person subject to the fit and proper assessment.

You should also provide details of all relevant individual directors (including executive and non-executive directors) or other individuals who perform a core function of that role in relation to the CDC scheme on behalf of the corporate entity.

Corporate directors

Where a director of a company is itself a corporate entity, you should provide details of any relevant individual carrying out a core function of the role for the CDC scheme.

Partnerships with separate legal personality

You should provide details of the partnership and all relevant individual partners where they perform a core function of the role for the CDC scheme, along with other individuals performing core functions on behalf of the partnership in respect of the relevant role.

Identifying the establisher of the CDC scheme

Any person who establishes a CDC scheme must be identified for assessment of fitness and propriety as part of the authorisation application. The scheme establisher is the person who is identified in the trust deed and rules as having established the scheme. They may have provided the initial financial backing for the CDC scheme. 

If the scheme establisher is a corporate entity, we would need to assess the fitness and propriety of all persons in the entity. This may include anyone in roles such as Chief Executive, Chairman, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and members of the board of directors. 

In seeking authorisation for your scheme, you must identify all those persons in such roles to us so we can assess their fitness and propriety. We will not assess a person who has no decision-making capacity in, or influence over, the scheme.

Identifying the trustees

Trustee boards can be structured in a number of different ways. They may include:

• individuals – including member nominated trustees
• corporate trustees with trustee directors (who may be individuals or corporate entities)
• professional trustees (who may be individuals or corporate entities)
• a combination of these

Regardless of how the trustee board is structured, you need to identify for assessment all individuals who carry out trustee functions, whether they are appointed as individuals, or acting through a corporate trustee as a trustee director. You should also include the details of the corporate entity itself.

Individual trustees on a trustee board

On a board of individual trustees all the trustees must be identified for the fit and proper assessment.

Corporate trustee boards

Where there is a corporate trustee in place, the directors will perform the functions of the trustee. We will expect all the directors of the trustee to be identified for assessment, unless they do not perform core functions and make decisions in relation to the CDC scheme. This may apply, for example, where the corporate trustee is a professional trustee company with multiple appointments and some directors have no role in the governance or operation of the scheme.

Persons to be assessed:

• individual trustees 
• individual member-nominated trustees 
• all trustee directors involved with the CDC scheme

The professional trustee company and trustees not involved with the CDC scheme (but who may be involved with other schemes) do not need to be assessed. 

The important thing for trustees to be aware of is that anyone who performs a role relevant to the scheme involving any trustee duties needs to be identified to us to be assessed for their fitness and propriety.

Where a professional trustee company provides a designated alternate to undertake the role of trustee for the CDC scheme (for example, when an individual is sick or on holiday and a substitute takes their place at a board meeting representing the corporate entity), the person who would be able to act as the designated alternate would also need to be assessed for fitness and propriety.

Persons who can appoint or remove trustees

The scheme’s trust deed and any associated documentation should set out who has the power to appoint and remove trustees. We need to assess all persons, whether corporate entities or individuals who alone or collectively have the power to appoint or remove trustees, or to require that specific persons be appointed or removed as trustees. An individual who participates in an election, or expresses a preference, will not need to be assessed.

If the power lies solely with some or all of the trustee board, they will already have been identified, and so no further individuals will need to be assessed.

Where a corporate entity, such as the employer, has the power to appoint trustees, all the individuals responsible for the decision need to be assessed. If it is a board that makes the decision, then all the members of that board will need to be assessed.

If the process involves another body, for example a union, then those in decision-making positions need to be identified and assessed. This would not include those who simply participate in an election involving the wider union membership.

Persons who can amend the trust deed

As with the appointment of trustees, the scheme’s trust deed and any associated documentation should provide clarity on who has the power to amend the trust deed. Any person in such a position, whether in that capacity as an individual or as a corporate entity, must be assessed for fitness and propriety.

We expect the principles set out in the above sections to be followed here.

Scheme proprietor (multi-employer CDC schemes only)

We need to assess any individuals exercising a management or executive role in relation to the scheme proprietor. In most cases, this is expected to be the directors of the scheme proprietor. If the scheme proprietor is a partnership, the partners would need to be assessed. We also need to assess any individuals who have significant control over the scheme proprietor. We will not normally assess individual employees of the scheme proprietor who are not directors. 

If the scheme proprietor is a body corporate, we consider an individual to have significant control if they:

• hold (directly or indirectly) more than 25% of shares or voting rights in the scheme proprietor 
• have the right (directly or indirectly) to appoint or remove a majority of directors 
• have the right to exercise, or actually exercises significant influence or control over the scheme proprietor’s activities

If the scheme proprietor is a partnership, limited partnership or limited liability partnership, we would expect to assess any individual who:

• has a right to share in more than 25% of any surplus assets of the entity on winding up
• holds more than 25% of the rights to vote on those matters which are to be decided by a vote of the members of the entity 
• has the right to appoint or remove the majority of the persons who are entitled to take part in the management of the entity

Persons who promote or market the scheme (multi-employer CDC schemes only)

We will need to assess any persons exercising a management or executive role in relation to the scheme’s promotion or marketing function. This will include the individual responsible for managing and approving communications or campaigns. 

It is possible that the structure for those promoting and marketing the multi-employer CDC scheme will be more complex than other capacities that require an assessment of collective competence. There may be several separate third-party contracts in place covering different aspects of managing and approving of promotion and marketing activity. For example, there could be a third party working exclusively on digital marketing campaigns, whilst one or more other third parties could be working on sector specific campaigns, whilst another party may be operating a general employer acquisition campaign. 

It is important you give full consideration to identifying all those who are either managing or approving campaigns. Consideration should also be given to identifying those with both a management role or executive role in promoting and marketing the multi-employer CDC scheme. These individuals will need to be identified on the role identification form. Additionally, where one or more of those parties is company or partnership, details should be provided on the role identification form.

Chief financial officer (multi-employer CDC schemes only)

We will need to assess any person who has significant influence over the management and use of the financial resources of the scheme and/or business decisions relating to any commercial activities of the scheme. 

We will concentrate on people who have significant influence and control in these matters, rather than anyone who has a matching or comparable job title. 

It is likely that this role will exist for every scheme, regardless of the size of the business model, due to the nature of this role. 

Chief investment officer (multi-employer CDC schemes only)

We will need to assess any person who has significant influence over the contents of the scheme’s investment strategy and/or the implementation, management and communication of the scheme’s investment strategy.

We will not assess anyone who fulfils this role only because they are a service provider to the scheme. 

Trustees may not always have the capacity or experience to act as chief investment officer. We would therefore be more likely to be satisfied where the chief investment officer is distinct from the trustees. Where a trustee fulfils this role, unconscious biases and conflicts of interest may emerge over time. We expect to see details of how this risk is being managed. 

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