Hybrid scheme meaning

The auto-enrolment duty Since 1 October 2012, at their staging date employers must auto‑enrol eligible jobholders into a qualifying pension scheme, allow opt‑outs, pay minimum contributions, and re‑enrol every three years. They also had to identify their staging date, workers, and scheme. Identifying the staging date PAYE 120,000+: from 1 October 2012. Under 120,000: 1 Nov 2012 to 1 Apr 2017. PAYE first payable Apr 2012–Sep 2017: 1 May 2017 to 1 Feb 2018. On/after 1 Oct 2017: first worker’s start date. DB or hybrid schemes could defer to 1 Oct 2017. Staging could be moved, and auto‑enrolment postponed up to three months. Who needs to be enrolled automatically? Eligible jobholders work (or ordinarily work) in Great Britain under a worker’s contract, are 22 to under State Pension age, and have qualifying earnings above the earnings trigger. What type of pension scheme can be used? ...

In this edition: Employment contract Pay Protected characteristics Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Prohibited conduct protection at work Equality of terms (equal pay) Employment Appeal Tribunal Governance and regulatory Immigration Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract UKSC upholds claimants’ appeal and restores injunction in Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ case In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, Tesco moved to end employees’ contracts to remove their ‘retained pay’—a contractual financial entitlement accepted as permanent—and to offer re-engagement on new terms excluding that pay. Working with the union, USDAW, several employees obtained a High Court injunction restraining Tesco from dismissing them in order to take away the retained pay entitlement. The Court of Appeal, however, allowed Tesco’s appeal against that order. The Supreme Court has since backed the claimants’ appeal and...

In this issue Corporate governance Regulatory issues Useful information Weekly highlights from other practice areas Corporate governance Glass Lewis publishes 2025 proxy voting policy guidelines Glass Lewis has released its 2025 proxy voting policy guidelines for the US, UK and Europe. Taking effect from 1 January 2025, the revisions introduce notable updates, including expectations for board oversight of artificial intelligence (AI), approaches to shareholder meeting formats, and the treatment of time‑based awards. The guidelines also provide direction on how shareholder proposals concerning the use of AI and broader environmental, social and governance matters will be assessed. On remuneration-related topics, the principal UK developments are: renewed emphasis on Glass Lewis’s nuanced stance towards executive pay proposals, stating it undertakes a holistic assessment of all relevant factors, with a negative recommendation arising from a single factor only in particularly egregious situations heightened encouragement for companies to deliver more robust disclosure on their remuneration consultation process following...

In this issue: Funding and investment Scheme governance Pension scams and liberation Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Funding and investment TPR publishes revised employer covenant guidance to align with new DB funding code of practice The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has at last issued revised guidance on the employer covenant for trustees overseeing defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, to align with its new DB funding code of practice, which took effect on 12 November 2024 under the Pensions Act 2004 (Code of Practice) (Defined Benefit Funding) Appointed Day Order 2024 (SI 2024/1143). Described by TPR as ‘the last piece of the jigsaw to help schemes carry out valuations under the new DB funding code’, the update introduces the first regulatory definition of employer covenant, intended to deliver greater market certainty and foster consistency between schemes. Notable changes cover cash flow analysis, tests of reasonable affordability, maximum affordable contributions, reliability periods, covenant longevity, and...

This Practice Note sets out the principal steps for properly bringing to an end a defined contribution (DC) occupational pension scheme—also described as a money purchase occupational pension arrangement or a trust-based defined contribution plan. Throughout this Practice Note, this type of arrangement is termed a ‘DC scheme’. The guidance applies across a range of DC schemes, including trusts that sit outside the authorised master trust framework and small self-administered pension schemes (SSASs), although the latter may, in certain cases, be excluded from particular statutory obligations or requirements. This Practice Note does not cover the winding-up of any: an ‘authorised master trust’ under the Pension Schemes Act 2017 (PSA 2017)—for further detailed information, please see Practice Note: The authorisation and supervisory regime for master trusts, contract-based DC arrangements (eg group personal pension arrangements)—for further details and guidance, see Practice Note: Winding up of personal pension schemes Statute makes distinct and specific provision for hybrid schemes (combining defined benefit (DB) and DC...

When disagreements arise in property transactions, parties typically have a number of avenues for resolving matters, each bringing its own benefits and drawbacks. This Practice Note explores those routes and provides examples of the types of property dispute that may lend themselves to settlement through alternate dispute resolution (ADR). ADR in property disputes It is well recognised that ADR can be an effective method of resolving disputes, especially in property disputes and other commercial transactions. ADR is: efficient cost-effective capable of producing settlements that courts may not be able to replicate more imaginative than judicial awards tailored to the commercial needs of the parties At present, ADR is not compulsory in Scotland, so it is not a necessary pre-requisite to legal proceedings; however, practitioners still have obligations to advise on, and consider, ADR...

What is a hybrid pension scheme? Current pensions law largely divides UK occupational pension schemes into two categories, based on whether they qualify as money purchase schemes. In outline: a money purchase scheme is one where every benefit provided is a money purchase benefit (see Practice Note: Money purchase benefits—the statutory definition for the statutory meaning of “money purchase benefits”) Defined benefit schemes are, generally, not separately defined. There are limited exceptions for automatic enrolment under the Pensions Act 2008 (PenA 2008) and for the types of benefits payable as authorised payments under the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004), under which: a defined benefits (DB) scheme is one where none of the benefits provided are money purchase benefits (note also the similar definition of a “defined benefits arrangement” in FA 2004, s 152(6)) For most purposes, these definitions therefore do not address situations where only some of a scheme’s benefits are money purchase. Schemes delivering a mixture...

1 Definitions Insert defined terms into the Share Purchase Agreement, including: Accounts Date; Business Day; Buyer; CA 2006; Company; Completion; Completion Date; Conditions; Contractor; Disclosure Letter; Employee; Employment Legislation; former; holding company; Sale Shares; Seller; Subsidiaries and subsidiary; TULRCA; TUPE; Warranties; and Worker... 2 Employment Directors: Listed in the Disclosure Letter; no others held out. Employees, Workers and Contractors: The Disclosure Letter gives anonymised terms, benefits, scheme eligibility and absences; contracts and policies annexed; work is exclusive; no return rights, pending offers, restrictive obligations, post‑Accounts Date changes, promised increases, or flexible requests; no hybrid arrangements offered or under negotiation. Termination: All roles terminable on three months or less without extra liability; no notices; Completion creates no rights or payments; no contractual redundancy scheme. Liabilities and payments: No termination payments promised; no contingent liabilities; consultation duties complied with; only routine pay, expenses and holiday due. Disputes and disciplinary: No EHRC enquiries, union disputes, claims, live disciplinary/capability/grievance cases, or unanswered Equality Act questions....