PPF meaning

This Checklist This Checklist provides points to weigh up when preparing and seeking sign-off for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) involving the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). It draws on PPF Guidance Note 5 issued in 2018 (see PPF Guidance Note 5: CVAs). When an employing company (or all participating employers in a last man standing scheme) files a CVA proposal with the court, a PPF assessment period begins. Under section 137 of the Pensions Act 2004, the PPF assumes the pension trustees’ voting entitlement (see Practice Note: The Pension Protection Fund—eligibility and entry). In practice, the PPF will typically cast a vote for or against the proposal rather than refrain. The PPF is consistently focused on avoiding any precedent that might allow pension schemes to be diluted where potential PPF entry could arise in the near future (the PPF observes that this has occurred in numerous prior CVAs). The PPF also anticipates that pension trustees will appoint their financial advisers to produce a report addressing the areas of concern...

This Checklist This Checklist considers the details a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposal must include under the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (IR 2016), SI 2016/1024 and Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) 3.2, together with expectations from other stakeholders likely to be impacted by the CVA, notably the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and the British Property Federation (BPF): the IR 2016, SI 2016/1024, rr 2.2, 2.3 Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) 3.2 PPF requirements, see: Checklist for approval of CVAs involving the Pension Protection Fund BPF requirement, see: Checklist: British Property Federation engagement and red flags for company voluntary arrangements A CVA proposal sets out the detailed terms of a compromise between the company and its creditors, so it must be thorough and correct in every respect. If the proposal or surrounding circumstances are intricate, a solicitor should review or draft it to make sure it faithfully embodies the arrangement’s intentions. The proposal should be clear and...

This Checklist This Checklist outlines several principal steps that schemes must undertake with effect from 24 July 2014 to meet the requirements of section 29 of the Pensions Act 2011 (“section 29”). That provision revises the meaning of money purchase benefits in section 181 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, with the effect that some categories of benefit cease to be money purchase. For further detail on the impact of the updated statutory definition of money purchase benefits on schemes, refer to Practice Note: Money purchase benefits—the transitional regulations [Archived]...

What is the background to the call for evidence? Following Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s Mansion House address the night before, the DWP launched the call for evidence. Issued in tandem with several other DWP publications, these materials covered a broad spread of topics affecting UK pension schemes. Their shared aim was to boost investment in UK productive finance whilst shielding members’ benefits and giving precedence to a resilient, diversified gilt market. The Chancellor characterised the proposals across the various papers as the ‘Mansion House reforms’. The DWP placed the Response alongside further papers pertinent to DB pension schemes, including: the Autumn Statement 2023, which confirms that the Government will reduce the authorised surplus payments charge, currently payable on a return of surplus to a scheme employer, from 35% to 25% from 6 April 2024; and Call for evidence outcome: Pension trustee skills, capability and culture What was the outcome? ...

ACA chair Stewart Hastie said the trade body backs the Labour government’s January 2025 proposal enabling companies that sponsor defined benefit pension arrangements to draw down substantial surpluses. He urged Pensions Minister Torsten Bell to deliver a pragmatic and successful new regime for defined benefit surplus release. Hastie stressed that pension trustees must remain central to the process, but that the necessary detail — including a new regulator code — should arrive sooner rather than later and underpin a practical approach if the behavioural shift sought is to be achieved...

On 2 August 2024, the PPF announced that Kodak Alaris had been reorganised under its ownership and was now ‘performing well’. The consideration for the transaction was not revealed. The PPF added, ‘this is standard practice for pension scheme assets we take on, and, after a thorough process, we are pleased to have secured a good outcome for all parties’...

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...

What is an assessment period? When a qualifying insolvency event affects the sponsoring employer of an eligible scheme, the scheme moves into a Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment period as a result of that event. This arises on the occurrence of that event. The day on which that period starts is known as the ‘assessment date’ for the scheme. Since 3 January 2012, the assessment period is no longer required to last for at least 12 months. Throughout the assessment period, the PPF considers whether the scheme satisfies the requirements for entry into the PPF. In particular, the PPF will appoint an actuary to carry out a valuation of the scheme as at the assessment date, in order to determine whether the scheme’s assets are less than the protected liabilities—broadly, the benefits the PPF would pay to members if the scheme were to enter the PPF...

This practice note applies to defined benefit occupational pension schemes The importance of identifying a scheme’s statutory employer(s) A fundamental element of the law governing occupational pension schemes, particularly defined benefit (DB) schemes, is that the main burden of supporting the scheme lies with its sponsoring employers, as a matter of law alone indeed. An employer might have exited the scheme previously without settling all liabilities owed to it; in such circumstances they may still be a ‘statutory employer’ even though they no longer participate. They may therefore continue to bear obligations in relation to the scheme. Under the registered pension scheme regime, various specific obligations fall upon those who qualify as ‘statutory employers’, a notion carried over from the earlier tax-exempt approval regime in force before A-day (for further information on the pre A-day regime, see The pre A-day pensions tax regime [Archived]). These duties will typically extend beyond those that a participating employer assumes under the scheme’s trust deed and rules. For...