That is completely disproportionate and it is punishing the wrong people.
No, the Ssas trustees might not have an environmental, social and governance policy, a data management plan or a value-for-money assessment, but they can tell you exactly what they are invested in, how much rent the employer is paying into the Ssas for the company premises and how the scheme loan helped to solve cash flow shortfalls for their business.
What other occupational schemes can say they have provided any support to employers, let alone on that level? Many have been a burden.
Regulators cannot pick and choose what parts of the market they want to regulate.
TPR may have no interest in regulating Ssas, but it needs to be honest about what a Ssas is and work with trustees to fix problems rather than simply try and tax it out of existence.
Martin Jones is technical manager at AJ Bell
