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Independent trustees: Statutory appointment

Broadly, the Pensions Regulator (TPR) may appoint an independent trustee to any pension scheme established under a trust where the sponsoring employer has gone into liquidation, receivership or administration.  An independent trustee may also be appointed where a scheme has entered a Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment period (during which the scheme is assessed to determine whether the PPF should assume responsibility for it) but no insolvency practitioner has been appointed.

To be appointed the individual must be:

• an independent person in relation to the scheme; and
• registered on TPR’s independent trustee register.

The order made by TPR to appoint the independent trustee may make provision for his or her fees and expenses to be met from the assets of the scheme, the sponsoring employer or a combination of the two.

The meaning of independence

“Independent” means that:

• the individual has no interest in the assets of the employer of the scheme otherwise than as a trustee; and
• the individual is neither connected with nor an associate of the employer, any person acting as an insolvency practitioner in relation to the employer, or the Official Receiver (if they are appointed).