Guidance from Pensions Regulator meaning

THIS CHECKLIST APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This checklist highlights the key actions involved in bringing an occupational pension scheme to a close—whether a defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) arrangement—and aligns with winding-up guidance from the Pensions Regulator (TPR). For fuller detail on these steps, see Practice Notes: Winding up a defined benefit (DB) occupational pension scheme; Winding up a defined contribution (DC) occupational pension scheme; and Winding-up an occupational pension scheme—statutory disclosure from 6 April 2014, reporting and record-keeping requirements. Data cleansing and reconciling records Once trustees decide to wind up the scheme, they should carry out a thorough data cleansing exercise. As this can be lengthy, it should, where practicable, be completed before formal winding-up starts. Where trustees cannot control the timing of the wind-up, cleansing and planning should begin as early as possible within the winding-up process. As part of the data cleansing exercise, trustees should: Check and reconcile member records. Where the scheme is a former contracted-out...

A limited company is permitted to repurchase its own shares where the criteria in the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) are satisfied. Such transactions are known as share buybacks, or purchases by a company of its own shares. Alongside the CA 2006 provisions, additional rules and guidance can apply to a listed company or to an AIM company. A private limited company may effect a buyback out of capital in accordance with CA 2006, Pt 18, Ch 5 (CA 2006, ss 709–723), subject always to any restriction or prohibition contained in the company’s articles of association. For private companies, repurchases are undertaken solely off-market, and accordingly this checklist does not cover on-market buybacks. For an introduction to share buybacks, including an outline of the differences between an off-market share buyback and an on-market share buyback, see Practice Note: Share buybacks—the legal framework. Preliminary issues Before proceeding with any share buyback to be financed out of capital in accordance with CA 2006, Pt 18, Ch 5, a private limited...

THIS CHECKLIST APPLIES TO MULTI-EMPLOYER DEFINED BENEFIT OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES General For an employer leaving an underfunded defined benefit occupational scheme, apportionment arrangements provide an option other than paying an s 75 debt in full when an employment-cessation event occurs. There are three forms of apportionment arrangement: scheme apportionment arrangement (SAA) regulated apportionment arrangement (RAA) flexible apportionment arrangement (FAA) The statutory requirements for apportionment are prescribed in the Employer Debt Regs, SI 2005/678, regs 6B, 6E and 7A, together with the definitions in reg 2(1). The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has produced guidance to help employers and trustees understand the available approaches for addressing s 75 debts, including apportionment arrangements. If an apportionment arrangement could adversely affect a scheme’s ability to meet its pension liabilities, the exiting employer and the remaining employers should consider seeking clearance from TPR...

In this issue: Spring Budget 2024 The Pensions Regulator Pensions taxation The Pension Protection Fund Investment Scheme governance Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Spring Budget 2024 Key pensions announcements and views from the market In the Spring Budget 2024, delivered on 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, outlined the government’s central objective: to stimulate growth by funnelling more capital into UK equity markets, improving the UK’s standing as a listing venue, and building on the Mansion House reforms announced in the Autumn Statement 2023. Key pensions measures include: expanding the regulatory remit of the Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to enable the closure or winding-up of poorly performing defined contribution (DC) schemes, aligned with the reformed Value for Money (VFM) framework requiring DC funds to publish, by 2027, a public breakdown of...

In this issue: Status and worker categories Employment tribunal equality claims Whistleblowing Individual rights arising from union membership Confidentiality, duties and restrictions: enforcement Employment tribunals Employment Appeal Tribunal Pensions LexTalk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Status and worker categories Food delivery companies to introduce right to work checks for substitute drivers The Home Office has stated that, following discussions with the UK government, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats plan to curb misuse of driver account sharing by their drivers. Each platform has agreed to implement new procedures enabling verification that any substitute couriers have permission to work in the UK. All three companies have reiterated plans to roll out checks to confirm substitutes’ legal right to work. Deliveroo has already begun, adding right to work screenings for substitutes at the registration stage earlier this month. See: LNB News 30/04/2024 76. Department...

Brexit headlines Defra sets out scope of legislative alignment under UK-EU SPS Agreement The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has outlined the EU legislation it considers to sit within the scope of the proposed UK‑EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. The statement confirms the government’s intention to seek legislative alignment with EU rules, including dynamic alignment, to lessen administrative burdens and reduce costs associated with agrifood trade. It indicates that, in most cases, alignment is anticipated to substitute for, rather than add to, current domestic requirements, despite the limited divergence since EU exit. Defra also signals that the referenced EU measures, together with related implementing and delegated acts, presently set the expected boundaries of the agreement’s scope, and that further updates and detailed guidance for businesses will be issued following the conclusion of negotiations...

The Pensions Regulator (the Regulator) The Regulator is an arm’s-length public body set up under the Pensions Act 2004 (PeA 2004). Its authority to impose contribution notices and financial support directions appears in PeA 2004, ss 38–50. Although the Act does not use the label, these provisions are widely known as the Regulator’s ‘moral hazard’ powers. Their purpose is to counter the ‘moral hazard’ arising from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF): the possibility that corporate groups might organise their structures so as to heighten exposure within their pension schemes, comfortable that the PPF would intervene if the employer entered insolvency. The principal moral hazard tools—and the only ones exercised so far—are the power to issue a contribution notice (CN) and the power to issue a financial support direction (FSD). A CN compels the recipient to pay a specified amount into a defined benefit occupational pension scheme. A CN can be issued where the criteria in PeA 2004, s 38 are satisfied. These mechanisms exist to deter behaviour that would...

The Pensions Regulator’s scheme management enforcement strategy explains its approach to compliance and enforcement across defined benefits funding, defined contribution and public service pension schemes, while also describing the outcomes TPR may pursue and the means by which it could achieve them, all to strengthen safety and security for pension savers. Its prosecution policy and broader enforcement strategy set out the principal aims of its enforcement activity and give insight into the framework TPR applies when deciding which cases to take forward for enforcement action. Initial considerations in TPR investigations In its capacity as the UK regulator for work-based pension schemes, TPR has a suite of information-gathering powers to identify and track risks and to obtain evidence to support criminal prosecutions. These include: requiring reports of breaches of the law and notifiable events requiring reports prepared by skilled persons on specified issues compelling trustees and employers to provide documents and other information the power to inspect premises For more...

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES ONLY TO DEFINED BENEFIT OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES When performing its functions, the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator follows two distinct procedural pathways that must be observed, and must be followed at all times. These two sequences are known as the Standard Procedure and the Special Procedure. the Standard Procedure the Special Procedure As a reserved regulatory function of the Pensions Regulator, issuing a contribution notice or a financial support direction may only be carried out by the Determinations Panel using the Standard Procedure. The Special Procedure is adopted where there is a need to invoke the Regulator’s powers without delay to safeguard members’ interests or scheme assets. This route does not extend to contribution notices or financial support directions. For more detail on the Special Procedure, see The Pensions Regulator’s Determinations Panel—The Regulator’s procedures for exercising its functions. For additional information about the Panel, see Practice Note: The Pensions Regulator’s Determinations Panel. Stages of...