Office of Public Sector Information
PART IV continued
141.—(1) Section 25 of the Pension Schemes Act (the pension and annuity requirements) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1) for paragraph (a) substitute—
“(a)in the case of an occupational pension scheme it commences on a date—
(i)not earlier than the member's 60th birthday, and
(ii)not later than his 65th birthday,
or on such later date as has been agreed by him, and continues until the date of his death, or
(aa)in the case of a personal pension scheme—
(i)where the member has elected under section 24(1A) to receive payments under an interim arrangement, it commences on the termination date, and continues until the date of the member's death or, where section 24A(2) applies, until the death of the member's widow or widower, or
(ii)otherwise, it commences on such a date as had been agreed by the member and is not earlier than his 60th birthday nor later than his 75th birthday, and continues until the date of his death;” .
(3) In subsection (3)(b)(iii), after member insert “or, where section 24A(2) applies, the member's widow or widower.”
(4) In subsection (4), after member insert “(or a member's widow or widower)”.
142. Regulations made by the Department may provide that Articles 139 to 141 shall have effect, subject to prescribed modifications, in relation to protected rights under an occupational pension scheme as they have effect in relation to protected rights under a personal pension scheme.
143.—(1) After section 28 of the Pension Schemes Act insert—
28A.—(1) Where an occupational pension scheme is being wound up and such conditions as may be prescribed are satisfied, effect may be given to the protected rights of a member of the scheme (in spite of section 24) by—
(a)taking out an appropriate policy of insurance, or a number of such policies, under which the member is the beneficiary, or
(b)assuring the benefits of a policy of insurance, or a number of such policies, to the member, where the policy assured is an appropriate policy.
(2) A policy of insurance is appropriate for the purposes of this section if—
(a)the insurance company with which it is or was taken out or entered into—
(i)is, or was at the time when the policy was taken out or (as the case may be) the benefit of it was assured, carrying on ordinary long-term insurance business (within the meaning of the Insurance Companies Act 1982) in the United Kingdom or any other member State, and
(ii)satisfies, or at that time satisfied, prescribed requirements, and
(b)it may not be assigned or surrendered except on conditions which satisfy such requirements as may be prescribed,
(c)it contains or is endorsed with terms whose effect is that the amount secured by it may not be commuted except on conditions which satisfy such requirements as may be prescribed, and
(d)it satisfies such other requirements as may be prescribed.”.
(2) At the end of section 24 of that Act, as amended by this Order (ways of giving effect to protected rights), insert—
“(9) This section is subject to section 28A.” .
144. After section 29 of the Pension Schemes Act insert—
29A.—(1) If any person acting as an auditor or actuary of an appropriate scheme has reasonable cause to believe that—
(a)any requirement which, in the case of the scheme, is required by section 5(5)(a) to be satisfied is not satisfied, and
(b)the failure to satisfy the requirement is likely to be of material significance in the exercise by the Department of any of its functions relating to appropriate schemes,
that person must immediately give a written report of the matter to the Department.
(2) No duty to which a person acting as auditor or actuary of an appropriate scheme is subject shall be regarded as contravened merely because of any information or opinion contained in a written report under this section.”.
145.—(1) Paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Contributions and Benefits Act (Class 1 contributions where earner in more than one employment) is amended as follows.
(2) For sub-paragraph (3) substitute—
“(3) The amount of the primary Class 1 contribution shall be the aggregate of the amounts determined under the following paragraphs (applying earlier paragraphs before later ones)—
(a)if the aggregated earnings are paid to or for the benefit of an earner in respect of whom minimum contributions are payable under section 39(1) of the Pensions Act (contributions to personal pension schemes), the amount obtained by applying the rate of primary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to employments which are not contracted-out to such part of the aggregated earnings so attributable as does not exceed the current upper earnings limit (referred to in this paragraph as the APPS earnings);
(b)if some of the aggregated earnings are attributable to COMPS service, the amount obtained by applying the rate of primary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to COMPS service—
(i)to such part of the aggregated earnings attributable to COMPS service as does not exceed the current upper earnings limit; or
(ii)if paragraph (a) applies, to such part of the earnings attributable to COMPS service as, when added to the APPS earnings, does not exceed the current upper earnings limit;
(c)if some of the aggregated earnings are attributable to COSRS service, the amount obtained by applying the rate of primary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to COSRS service—
(i)to such part of the aggregated earnings attributable to COSRS service as does not exceed the current upper earnings limit; or
(ii)if paragraph (a) or (b) applies, to such part of the earnings attributable to COSRS service as, when added to the APPS earnings or the part attributable to COMPS service (or both), does not exceed the current upper earnings limit;
(d)the amount obtained by applying the rate of primary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to employments which are not contracted-out to such part of the aggregated earnings as, when added to the part or parts attributable to COMPS or COSRS service, does not exceed the current upper earnings limit.” .
(3) For sub-paragraph (6) substitute—
“(6) The amount of the secondary Class 1 contribution shall be the aggregate of the amounts determined under the following paragraphs (applying earlier paragraphs before later ones)—
(a)if the aggregated earnings are paid to or for the benefit of an earner in respect of whom minimum contributions are payable under section 39(1) of the Pensions Act, the amount obtained by applying the rate of secondary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to employments which are not contracted-out to the APPS earnings;
(b)if some of the aggregated earnings are attributable to COMPS service, the amount obtained by applying the rate of secondary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to COMPS service to the part of the aggregated earnings attributable to such service;
(c)if some of the aggregated earnings are attributable to COSRS service, the amount obtained by applying the rate of secondary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to COSRS service to the part of the aggregated earnings attributable to such service;
(d)the amount obtained by applying the rate of secondary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to employments which are not contracted-out to the remainder of the aggregated earnings.” .
(4) At the end of that paragraph add—
“(9) In this paragraph—
COMPS service means service in employment in respect of which minimum payments are made to a money purchase contracted-out scheme;
COSRS service means service in employment which qualifies the earner for a pension provided by a salary related contracted-out scheme.” .
(5) Until the principal appointed day, that paragraph, as amended by this Article, shall have effect as if—
(a)for sub-paragraph (3)(b) there were substituted—
“(b)if some of the aggregated earnings are attributable to service in contracted-out employment, the amount obtained by applying the rate of primary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to such service—
(i)to such part of the aggregated earnings attributable to such service as does not exceed the current upper earnings limit, or
(ii)if paragraph (a) applies, to such part of the earnings attributable to such service as, when added to the APPS earnings, does not exceed the current upper earnings limit;,”
(b)sub-paragraph (3)(c) were omitted,
(c)in sub-paragraph (3)(d), for COMPS or COSRS service there were substituted “service in contracted-out employment”,
(d)for sub-paragraph (6)(b) there were substituted—
“(b)if some of the aggregated earnings are attributable to service in contracted-out employment, the amount obtained by applying the rate on secondary Class 1 contributions that would apply if all the aggregated earnings were attributable to such service to the part of the aggregated earnings attributable to such service;,”
(e)sub-paragraph (6)(c) were omitted, and
(f)in sub-paragraph (9) the definitions of COMPS service and COSRS service were omitted.
146.—(1) In spite of anything in sections 5 and 8 of the Pension Schemes Act (requirements for certification and determination of basis on which scheme is contracted-out), the Department may by regulations provide, where the pensions provided by an occupational pension scheme include both—
(a)such pensions that, if the scheme provided only those pensions, it would satisfy section 5(2) of that Act, and
(b)such other pensions that, if the scheme provided only those other pensions, it would satisfy section 5(3) of that Act,
for Part III of that Act to have effect as if the scheme were two separate schemes providing, respectively, the pensions referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).
(2) Regulations made by the Department may, in connection with any provision made by virtue of paragraph (1), make such modifications of the following enactments, and the instruments made or having effect as if made under them, as appear to the Department desirable—
the Contributions and Benefits Act,
the Pension Schemes Act, and
Part II.
Art. 147—Amendments
The Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995