Pension Plans May Need to Explain How They Find Missing People
Published Date: 10/16/2026
Notice
Summary
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) wants to keep collecting info for its special financial help program but with some new questions added. This affects pension plan managers who’ll need to share more details about their investment rules and how they find missing participants. If you want to weigh in, send your comments by December 15, 2026—no cost, just your voice!
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
New investment-document submissions
If you are a multiemployer pension plan sponsor, your Annual Statement of Compliance (ASOC) must now include the plan's most recent investment policy statement or comparable written investment guidelines, asset allocation policy, investment committee charter, and related investment reports. You must also submit minutes from trustee or fiduciary committee meetings that discussed investment policy or investment-related service providers, or a statement that no responsive minutes or documents exist.
Estimated time and dollar burdens
PBGC estimates that collecting and submitting the new investment documents will take about 3 hours of fund office time and about $1,200 in contractor costs per plan. As modified, PBGC estimates the ASOC will impose an average of 7 hours and $4,400 in annual cost per plan sponsor, with 175 plan sponsors filing ASOCs each year, yielding 1,225 ASOC hours and $770,000 in annual ASOC costs; the aggregate annual burden for part 4262 is estimated at 1,242.6 hours and $807,000.
Missing-participant data reporting
If you file an ASOC, you must provide data on missing participants and documentation of your procedures for identifying and locating them. Missing participants include those with inaccurate or incomplete contact information and participants with undeliverable mail or email addresses.
Criminal-violation disclosure on ASOC
ASOC instructions will be revised so filers must indicate whether any criminal violations affecting the plan have occurred. You must state if such criminal violations occurred with respect to the plan.
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Key Dates
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