Occupational pension scheme meaning

Legislation safeguards the pension entitlements of members of occupational pension schemes and other employment‑related benefit arrangements, including workplace personal pension schemes that receive employer contributions, while they are away from work on statutory family leave. Statutory family leave encompasses: maternity leave paternity leave adoption leave parental leave shared parental leave parental bereavement leave carer’s leave Maternity leave Occupational pension schemes are taken to include a maternity equality rule requiring periods when a member is on maternity leave to be treated in the same manner as periods when they are not on maternity leave. This maternity equality rule applies to both paid and unpaid ordinary maternity leave (OML), as well as to paid additional maternity leave (AML). As a result, under this rule, time spent on OML and paid AML in a defined benefit (DB) scheme is recognised as pensionable service...

When does a section 75 debt arise? An s 75 liability crystallises in respect of an occupational pension scheme that is underfunded on a buy-out basis and: an employment-cessation event happens for a relevant participating employer within a multi-employer scheme an insolvency event occurs in relation to a participating employer of the scheme, or the scheme formally goes into winding up In a multi-employer scheme, an employer’s s 75 debt is its allocated share of the scheme deficit, appropriately assessed on a buy-out basis. As an alternative to immediately paying the s 75 debt in full, an employer may enter into a deferred debt arrangement, an apportionment arrangement, or a withdrawal arrangement. Section 75 does not apply at all to money purchase schemes, unregistered pension schemes, unfunded public sector schemes, and a scheme with only one member. ...

THIS CHECKLIST APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES ON AND FROM 6 APRIL 2014 For guidance on the duty to issue basic scheme information before 6 April 2014, see Practice Note: Occupational pension schemes—disclosure requirements before 6 April 2014—Basic scheme information (ARCHIVED) and Checklist: Basic scheme information before 6 April 2014—checklist [Archived]. Basic scheme information requirement Under the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/2734 (the 2013 Disclosure Regulations), trustees of occupational pension schemes must supply basic scheme information to: prospective members; and members who have not already been sent that information, within one month of the scheme receiving their jobholder information or, if no jobholder information has been received, within two months of their joining the scheme...

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: Funding and investment Types of private pension schemes Scheme amendments The Pensions Ombudsman Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Funding and investment Final draft DB funding code of practice laid before Parliament on 18 July 2024 After a lengthy wait and anticipation, on 26 July 2024 the Pensions Regulator (TPR) finally released the final draft of the eagerly awaited defined benefit (DB) funding code of practice (the DB funding code), which will apply to scheme valuations with effective dates on or after 22 September 2024, supplanting the code. The final draft DB funding code was placed before Parliament on 18 July 2024 and is intended to mirror the Occupational Pension Schemes (Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/462 (the Funding and Investment Strategy Regulations 2024), which took effect on 6 April 2024 and, as with the DB funding code, applies to valuations with effective dates on...

On 18 July 2024, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) placed the long-anticipated final draft defined benefit funding code of practice before Parliament, following holdups arising from the dissolution of Parliament on 30 May 2024 and the calling of the general election on 4 July. The revised DB funding code will apply to scheme valuations with effective dates on or after 22 September 2024, supplanting the current code, and has been framed to align with the Occupational Pension Schemes (Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/462 (the Funding and Investment Strategy Regulations 2024), which took effect in April 2024. Sophia Singleton, President of the SPP, noted that the SPP welcomes the laying of the defined benefit funding code before Parliament at this time...

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...

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...

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...

ARCHIVED: This archived precedent comprises a set of recitals for a deed establishing a trust-based pension scheme. The recitals therefore serve to set out the context of, and rationale for, an agreement. Such recitals are usually not considered legally binding. This precedent is not maintained...

This Deed is entered into on the [ insert day ] day of [ insert month ] 20[ insert year ] Parties [ Insert full company name ], incorporated in England and Wales with company number [ insert number ], and whose registered office is at [ insert registered company address ] (the Departing Employer); [ Insert full company name ], incorporated in England and Wales with company number [ insert number ], and whose registered office is at [ insert registered company address ] (the Receiving Employer); and [ [ Insert full name of company ] incorporated in England and Wales with company number [ insert number ] and having its registered office at [ insert registered company address ] OR [ insert individual name(s) ] of [ insert individual address(es) ] ] (the Trustees). Background: (A) [ insert full name of scheme ] (the Scheme) was constituted by an [ interim OR definitive ] deed dated [ insert...

1 Conflicts of interest [ No conflicts of interest were reported before, or at the start of, the meeting OR [ Insert name ] declared a conflict of interest relating to [ Insert details ] ]. The Trustees agreed to disclose any [ other ] conflict if it arose during the meeting. 2 Notice and quorum It was confirmed that due notice had been issued to all of the Scheme’s Trustees, the meeting was duly convened, and a quorum was in attendance. [ Insert name of chair of the Trustees ] (the Chair) declared the meeting open. 3 Apologies [ No apologies for absence were received OR [ Insert name ] sent [ his OR her ] apologies for [ his OR her ] absence. ]...