Breaches of law, policy and guidance

Contents

What is a breach?

A breach of the law is when a legal duty which is relevant to the administration of the scheme has not been, or is not being, complied with.

It can encompass many aspects of the management and administration of the scheme, and includes items on the list below::

  • Failure to do what is required under overriding legislation, applicable statutory guidance, or codes of practice.
  • Failure to maintain accurate records.
  • Failure to act on any fraudulent act or omission that is identified.
  • Failure of an employer to pay member and employer contributions on time.
  • Failure to pay member benefits either accurately or in a timely manner.
  • Failure to issue annual benefit statements on time or non-compliance with the Regulator's Code of Practice No 14.

Non-compliance with the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) regulations can encompass many aspects of the management and administration of the scheme, including failure:

  • To abide with the LGPS Regulations.
  • To comply with the Funds policies and procedures (e.g. the Funds Statement of Investment Principles, Funding Strategy Statement, Administration Strategy or Communications Policy).

Breaches of Law Policy and Guidance

The Surrey Pension Fund seeks to conduct its affairs in a responsible manner; to ensure that all its activities are open and effectively managed, and that the Fund's integrity and principles of public interest disclosure are sustained.

The Surrey Pension Fund's Breaches of Law Policy (PDF) and Guidance policy and procedures for identifying, monitoring and, where appropriate, reporting breaches of the law as required in the Pensions Act 2004 and detailed in the Pensions Regulator's (tPR) Code of Practice no 14 - Governance and administration of public service pension schemes.

The following appendices accompany this Breaches policy and guidance:

  • Appendix 1: The legal requirement to report a breach.
  • Appendix 2: Examples of what may be considered a breach, whether it may be considered material, and how to make a submission to tPR
  • Appendix 3: Example breaches applying tPR Traffic Light System.
  • Appendix 4: Template breaches report document.

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