Is Arranging Pension Led Funding Regulated?

Is Arranging Pension Led Funding Regulated?

A natural consideration for brokers, whether they are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA,) or not, is whether Pension Led Funding constitutes a regulated activity or not.

While certain elements of PLF arrangements have compliance and regulatory touchpoints, these do not create obligations or risk to brokers.

In the first instance, brokers are not giving any pension advice to their client, they are merely making an introduction for the purposes of their client obtaining tax advice on the methods and consequences of them entering into a funding transaction with their pension scheme. They are not giving any advice in this regard. In any event, tax advice is not regulated by the FCA.

Secondly, a PLF arrangement involves the establishment of a Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS). The activity of a company setting-up its own occupational pension scheme is not a regulated activity although the pension schemes themselves have compliance and reporting obligations to His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Pensions Regulator. These are dealt with by the SSAS’ administrator.

In summary, brokers referring clients who wish to access PLF are not performing a regulated activity and do not require authorisation to do so.

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