The Pensions Dashboards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023

Enabling auditing

13.—(1) A provider must—

(a) procure and enable an independent person to audit whether or not the provider and their pensions dashboard service are compliant with the requirements in this Part—

(i) both prior to connection and on an annual basis thereafter, and

(ii) as far as possible covering the entire 12-month period between an initial or earlier report and the next one;

(b) report the outcome of the auditing process to the Money and Pensions Service, by no later than whichever of the following is appropriate in the circumstances—

(i) 20 working days beginning with the day after the date of the initial audit report, or

(ii) one year and 20 working days beginning with the day after the date of a previous audit report.

(2) In relation to paragraph (1)—

(a) a provider must—

(i) work with the independent person to identify, and must seek to rectify, any areas of non-compliance;

(ii) cover the costs of the auditing process;

(b) a report on the outcome of the auditing process must—

(i) include an assessment as to the extent of any compliance or lack thereof;

(ii) in respect of any non-compliance, state—

(aa) what measures have been put in place to secure compliance, and

(bb) that, in the view of the independent person, these measures are adequate to secure compliance within a reasonable period.

(3) In this regulation, “independent person” means a person—

(a) who is independent of the provider, and

(b) whom the provider reasonably concludes is suitably qualified or experienced to carry out the tasks referred to in this regulation.