Four of the 28 Irish pension administrators inspected in 2012 risked sanctions if their competence and capability standards were not addressed, The Pensions Board has revealed.

The regulator inspected a sample of 28 out of Ireland’s 173 registered administrators last year. In a report on the inspections, the board said in four cases failings were so bad it would have considered sanctions had the administrators not taken remedial action.

“The board finds it extraordinary that any administrator should be so unaware of its responsibilities that this situation should arise,” the report said.

The regulator said an action plan was agreed with each administrator to remedy the “significant” breaches.

Each administrator was ordered to inform trustees and scheme members of the failure to perform their core duties, and to prepare and issue all scheme reports and/or benefit statements that had not been completed as legally required.

Administrators were ordered to provide bi-weekly updates to the board showing all work completed in the previous two weeks, and a work plan for the next fortnight. Any potential new business being considered must be given to the board.

The board reserved the right to either not renew or to terminate administrators’ registration if they failed to implement the action plans within the required time period.

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