The Pensions Authority in Ireland has published an information update on issues relating to IORP II, including clarifications on the pension benefit statement (PBS), the annual compliance statement (ACS) and the 2022 EIOPA stress test.

The authority announced it would not require a PBS to be prepared with an effective date earlier than 1 January 2023 provided that trustees/registered administrators continue to provide annual benefit statements and, for DB schemes, statements of reasonable projection to active members.

It also announced that the authority would issue guidance on the calculation assumptions to be used for the projections in the PBS by the end of July.

Trustees were urged to prepare for the 2022 ACS no later than 31 January 2023, while the 2022 ACS form will be unchanged from the 2021 ACS form.

Although trustees will not be required to submit the 2022 ACS to the authority in 2023, the authority said that it would carry out sample checks and audits of this obligation as part of its ongoing supervisory activity.

The authority also reminded trustees that a failure to prepare the ACS may amount to an offence liable to a prosecution.

System development is currently underway to enable trustees to made a digital submission of the ACS, and trustees will be required to submit the 2023 ACS to the authority in February 2024.

The authority issued a reminder that the EIOPA reporting templates must be completed in full by selected schemes and submitted to the authority by 13 June.

A reminder was also issued for master trusts and schemes set up after 22 April 2021 to prepare for the Pensions Act 1990 compliance deadline of 1 July 2022.

This deadline also applies to master trusts with unrelated participating employers, one-member arrangements established on or after 22 April 2021, and any new scheme established on or after 1 July 2022.

The authority also announced that it will be conducting a short survey of a selection of DB and DC schemes in June to assess schemes’ progress since the original survey on IORP II preparedness was conducted in 2020.

The authority will collect survey data anonymously using a digital survey platform and the findings will be published on its website in September 2022.

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