SOUTH NORFOLK MP Richard Bacon has said that the ineffective Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA), was hardly a tough act to follow, as a new report finds that OPRA's replacement, the Pensions Regulator, has made a promising start but still has much to do.

Mr Bacon said: “The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority was supposedly set up to prevent another Maxwell-style pension raid but in practice it had no idea what it should seek to achieve and actually said it could not be sure of preventing another scandal”.

“OPRA simply failed to address major risks to pension schemes. It was unsure of its own powers, obsessed over trivial breaches of the rules and failed to check the suitability of trustees”.

“OPRA’s replacement, the Pensions Regulator, may have made a promising start but, frankly, OPRA was hardly a tough act to follow”.

Mr. Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report on the Pensions Regulator’s work in setting up new rules to oversee pension schemes. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) was established in April 2005 to regulate work-based pensions and has acted to put the regulation of pension schemes on a firmer footing. However, TPR has made a slower start in the regulation of money purchase schemes, and much remains to be done in improving standards of scheme governance and communications with members.

TPR replaced the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA), which was established in 1996 after the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell was discovered to have stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from the pension schemes of his various companies. OPRA was supposed to ensure that pension schemes are run properly, but neither its functions nor its objectives were specified in its governing legislation. OPRA was also found to be focussing on trivial breaches of the regulations, unclear about its powers and was failing to check the suitability of trustees.

24 April 2008
 

See also:
PAC REPORT: The Pensions Regulator