Ireland’s Pensions Authority has published details of its regulatory activity in 2021, including securing convictions in three prosecutions.

In total, 2021 saw the authority conclude six prosecution cases. Two of the cases it secured related to the deduction and non-remittance of employee pension contributions to a scheme within the statutory timeframe (section 58A(1) of the Pensions Act, 1990, as amended (the Act)). One case related to the non-remittance of obliged employer pension contributions to a scheme within the statutory timeframe (section 58A(2) of the Act).

The remaining cases were mostly struck out due to payment of arrears or the underlying matter being rectified in advance of the court date.

In addition to these prosecutions, during 2021, 16 investigations were finalised and closed and 14 new investigations were opened into various alleged breaches of the Pensions Act. The alleged breaches varied from deduction and non-remittance of pension contributions to failure to reply to a statutory request for information.

A total of 20 engagement meetings were held with the trustee boards of master trusts (MTs), defined contribution and defined benefit schemes as part of its 2021 engagement programme. The engagement programme built on the work started in 2020 and forms part of the authority’s overall move to forward-looking risk-based supervision.

The overall focus for the engagements was to examine how well-equipped schemes are to meet the enhanced governance and risk management requirements under the IORP II Directive following its transposition into law on 22 April 2021. A report on the key findings identified during the engagement process was published on the website in December 2021.

In addition, seven MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) firms operating non-standard PRSAs were inspected to establish if they use third party/parallel contracts which are prohibited by the Pensions Act. One audit of a registered administrator was conducted, relating to a delay in issuing pension documents to members.

In regard to defined benefit schemes, 494 of the 553 DB schemes subject to the funding standard, satisfied the standard as at 31 December 2021. All bar four of the remaining 59 schemes have funding proposals, or are in the process of submitting funding proposals, designed to enable the scheme to satisfy the funding standard within a specified term. The authority will directly engage with any scheme that fails to submit a funding proposal.

Five funding proposals from DB schemes were approved.

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