Register as a pension scheme administrator
Find out how to become a pension scheme administrator if you're an individual, partnership or business.
Who can be a pension scheme administrator
All registered pension schemes must have at least one scheme administrator.
The scheme administrator can be:
- one or more individuals
- a company or organisation such as an employer
- a specialist pension administration company
- a partnership
If you or your organisation wants to become a scheme administrator, you must be a legal resident of:
- the UK
- an EU member state
- Iceland
- Liechtenstein
- Norway
How to become a pension scheme administrator
To register as a scheme administrator, you’ll need to complete declarations confirming you:
- understand that you’re responsible for carrying out the functions and responsibilities of a scheme administrator, as shown in Finance Act 2004
- understand that you may need to provide further information or declarations as reasonably required
- are a fit and proper person
- intend to carry out these functions and responsibilities of a scheme administrator at all times
- understand that you may be liable to a penalty or prosecution if you make a false statement
To apply to register a new scheme or to take over as the scheme administrator of an existing scheme you must:
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be appointed to the role of scheme administrator in line with the scheme’s rules
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complete further declarations
Only the scheme administrator can make these declarations.
Pension schemes registered from 6 April 2006
The scheme administrator will be the person appointed under the scheme’s rules to this role.
Pension schemes approved before 6 April 2006
As long as there has been no change in the scheme administrator since 5 April 2006, the administrator will usually be the:
- pension provider — for personal pensions, stakeholder pensions, free-standing additional voluntary contribution schemes and buy-out policies
- trustees — for most occupational pension schemes
How to register
Register as a scheme administrator for pension schemes with a Pension Schemes Tax Reference (PSTR) beginning with ‘2’
If you have not already registered as a pension scheme administrator with HMRC and are only registering:
- so that you can apply to register a new pension scheme
- to become the scheme administrator of a pension scheme with a PSTR beginning with ‘2’
- to declare yourself as a scheme administrator for a retirement annuity contract or deferred annuity contract
You’ll have to register as a new scheme administrator online. Only a scheme administrator can complete the scheme administrator registration online.
You’ll need your organisation Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you register. You must choose ‘organisation’ when asked what type of user you are.
When you sign in to the Managing Pension Schemes service, you can choose to register as:
- an individual scheme administrator
- a company scheme administrator
- a partnership scheme administrator
Once you’ve registered, when you sign in to the online service you’ll be able to view:
- your scheme administrator details
- details of the schemes you’re the administrator of
Register as a scheme administrator for pension schemes with a PSTR beginning with ‘0’
You’ll need to contact HMRC to register.
You will be given:
- a scheme administrator ID
- information on how to complete your registration online
Get more information on how to use the Pension schemes online service for schemes with a PSTR beginning with ‘0’.
Once you get your scheme administrator ID, you’ll need to enrol for the Managing Pension Schemes service. You can check guidance on how to enrol.
Once you’ve enrolled, you’ll be able to:
- apply to register any new pension schemes on the Managing Pension Schemes service
- become a scheme administrator of a pension scheme on the Managing Pension Schemes service
Registering as a company
If you’re a company registering as a scheme administrator, you’ll need:
- the company name
- the company registration number
- the Corporation Tax Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) — this is the one you use for your role as an administrator
- the company’s address, as we’ll send correspondence there — you’ll also need the previous address if the company has been at their current address for less than a year
- the company email and telephone number — these should be details the company uses for other HMRC services
- the names and addresses of any pension advisors that you plan to use
- your company’s PAYE reference and VAT registration number, if you have them
- the names, addresses, previous addresses of any directors associated with your company — you’ll also need their National Insurance numbers, dates of birth and UTRs if they’ve been at their current address for less than a year
- the telephone numbers and email addresses of any directors associated with your company
Registering as an individual
If you’re an individual registering as a scheme administrator, you’ll need:
- your name
- your current address and previous address, if you’ve been at your current address for less than a year
- your date of birth
- your National Insurance number
- your contact email address and telephone number
- the names and addresses of any pension advisors you plan to use
Registering as a partnership
If you’re a partnership registering as a scheme administrator, you’ll need:
- the partnership name
- the partnership Self Assessment UTR
- the partnership’s current and previous address, if they’ve been at their current address for less than a year
- a contact email address and telephone number
- the names, addresses and previous addresses of all partners — you’ll also need the National Insurance numbers, date of birth and UTRs of any partners who have been at their current address for less than a year
- the telephone numbers and email addresses of all partners
- the names and addresses of any pension advisors that you plan to use
- PAYE and VAT registration numbers, if you have these
Registering as a non-trading companies and public sector organisations
You will need a Corporation Tax UTR before you can register.
You can get one by sending an email to: pensions.administration@hmrc.gov.uk with your organisation’s name and address, add ‘MPS — Corporation Tax UTR’ in the subject line.
HMRC will then send you a provisional Corporation Tax UTR by post.
As you only need it once, the Corporation Tax UTR will not be active. There will be no Corporation Tax requirements.
Updates to this page
Last updated 11 April 2022 + show all updates
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Information on how to register as a scheme administrator for pension schemes with a Pension Schemes Tax Reference beginning with ‘0’ has been updated.
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Information on how to register as a scheme administrator for pension schemes with a PSTR beginning with ‘2’ has been updated.
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Information under the ‘non-trading companies and public sector organisations’ section has been updated.
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You must create an organisation account when registering as a new scheme administrator. You can choose to register as an individual or company scheme administrator after creating your account. More information about this has been added.
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The 'Manage and Register Pension Schemes' service has been renamed 'Managing Pension Schemes'.
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Guidance on how to register as a pension scheme administrator has been updated.
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Changes to the registration section to clarify how and when to register.
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Changes have been made to take account of the introduction of the Manage and Register your Pension Schemes service.
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The postal address for Pension Scheme Services has changed.
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The postal address for Pension Scheme Services has changed.
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First published.