Dear Rebecca

Confirmation of National Statistics designation for Statistics on funded occupational pension schemes in the UK

We have reviewed the actions that your team has taken to address the requirements in Assessment Report 370: Funded occupational pension schemes statistics. On behalf of the Board of the UK Statistics Authority, I am pleased to confirm the designation of National Statistics for Funded occupational pension scheme statistics in the UK.

I would like to thank you for the improvements you have made to these statistics, which are essential for understanding membership by benefit type, income and expenditure, transactions, assets and liabilities of pension schemes. The statistics are important to a wide range of users within and outside of government – forming part of the UK National Accounts, Balance of Payments and feeding into international National Accounts. We were particularly impressed with your proactive approach to delivering key insights to meet user demands, for example, providing breakdowns of repurchase agreements, cash and borrowing and other liabilities. This allows users to monitor and interpret in more granular detail the liability levels of UK funded occupational pension schemes – a key concern following the recent fall in financial markets. We also appreciate your commitment to the ongoing development of pension statistics, and the transparent work programme published yesterday outlining your future plans will help communicate priorities to users more widely.

I am copying this letter to Pete Lee, Assistant Deputy Director of Financial Sector Accounts and Corporations Division, Luke Weston, Head of Financial Data Sources Branch, Harry Butterworth and Anthony Bearman, Statistical Production Analysts.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation

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Related links:

Ed Humpherson to Rebecca Richmond: Assessment of Funded Occupational Pension Scheme Statistics (July 2022)