Pensions Board fines Dunnes

The Pensions Board has successfully prosecuted the trustees of Dunnes Stores' pension scheme for failing to provide timely information to the board.

Trustees of the Dunnes Stores pension and life assurance scheme were yesterday fined €250 in a hearing held in the District Court. They were also ordered to pay €2,400 to cover the Pensions Board's costs in bringing the prosecutions.

The trustees failed to comply with Section 54 of the Pensions Act, 1990, which requires trustees to furnish the board with copies of certain documents within specified time limits. The documents requested from Dunnes Stores by the Pensions Board were the audited accounts, the auditor's report on the accounts and the trustees' annual report or the alternative annual report for the year ending April 30th, 2002.

The Pensions Board, which monitors trustees, had also sought confirmation from Dunnes Stores on how the availability of the trustees' annual report was conveyed to members. A Dunnes Stores statement blamed a "clerical oversight" for not providing the information to the Pensions Board in time.

The chief executive of the Pensions Board, Ms Anne Maher, said: "The board regards information disclosure as a very important governance requirement for pension schemes and takes steps to enforce this obligation where necessary."