Supervisory return for master trusts

As part of supervision, all master trusts must submit a supervisory return to us annually, on request.

Purpose of the supervisory return

It's a legal responsibility of the trustees to submit a completed supervisory return, unless the scheme is no longer a master trust or has wound up.

The supervisory return is a vital tool for supervising authorised master trusts and ensuring they continue to reach the high levels of compliance we expect from them. It will also form the basis for our ongoing assessment of the scheme against the five authorisation criteria.

Supervisory return questions

You will need to answer questions and provide documents as part of the supervisory return. Read further information about what the supervisory return contains.

If you don’t have one of the requested documents, you should speak to your supervisor, explaining why you don’t have it and a timetable for when you will be able to obtain it, or the reason you can’t. We will then consider this further.

The questions are provided for information and may be subject to change.

How to submit your supervisory return

Once you've received your supervisory return notice, please download and fill out the form below.

To submit this form and any documents associated with your supervisory return, please ask your supervisor for a Mimecast link which will enable you to upload files directly to us. Do this when you're ready to start sending us your response as links are only valid for seven days.

If you have an alternative approach which better suits your scheme, please speak to your supervisor. The deadline for all documentation to be sent to us is three months from your scheme year end date.

Master trust supervisory return form EXCEL 30KB

When to submit the supervisory return

The supervisory return notice will be issued at your scheme year end. You will have three months to complete and submit the return.

For example, if your scheme year end is in April, your supervisory return notice would be sent in April, to be completed and returned to us by July.

Please do not send us a supervisory return until we ask you for one. Before sending your supervisory return, you may want to check the following:

Check if your scheme is a master trust and whether it has been authorised by us.
Check whether someone else is the listed supervisory return contact for the scheme – they may already have received a notice from us.

If you're unable to complete the supervisory return by the due date, contact us.

You don't have to complete a supervisory return if your scheme has already wound up. You’ll need to update your records with the date the scheme wound up via our online portal Exchange, in the ‘Manage your scheme details’ section.

What happens after the supervisory return is submitted to TPR

Once your supervisory return has been received and is considered complete, you will receive an email receipt. Your supervisor will contact you if any information is missing or if they have any questions on the information provided.

If you don’t comply

If you miss your deadline or fail to complete the supervisory return, this is a breach of the law and could result in a fine.

For further information about fines, see our monetary penalties policy.

Where to go for help

If you have any queries that are not covered here, contact your supervisor if you have one assigned to you, or email mastertrustsupervision@tpr.gov.uk.