Salary-related occupational pension schemes 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...

This Checklist offers an overview of the information an annual benefit statement must contain under regs 16, 16A and 17 of the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/2734 (the Disclosure Regs 2013). It applies irrespective of whether the pension arrangement in question is a defined benefit scheme, a cash balance arrangement or any other money purchase set‑up. Benefit statements for benefits other than money purchase benefits Active, deferred and pension credit members who are entitled to benefits other than money purchase benefits (for example, final salary or career average benefits) may ask the trustees or managers of the scheme for a benefit statement once in every 12‑month period. The trustees must provide the statement as soon as practicable and, in any event, within two months of their request. The precise content of the annual benefit statement varies according to the member’s status, and the accompanying table identifies the information requirements for benefit statements for each relevant type of member...

In this issue: The Pensions Regulator Pension Protection Fund Pension Schemes Bill The pensions tax regime Pensions accounting Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers The Pensions Regulator TPR publishes 2025 DC landscape report highlighting consolidation trends The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has released its 2025 overview of the UK occupational defined contribution (DC) market, confirming a continued move towards fewer, larger schemes and urging trustees, particularly those of smaller arrangements, to test value for savers and consolidate where it is lacking. The analysis shows DC scheme numbers fell by 15% to 790 in 2025, chiefly as schemes with fewer than 5,000 members left the market. Over the period, total assets rose 22% from £205bn to £249bn and memberships increased by 7%, reflecting consolidation. Master trusts now dominate, holding 30.1 million memberships (92%) and £208bn of assets (83%). TPR stressed that larger schemes are typically better positioned to deliver stronger investment performance and...

What is the background to TPR's consultation on its new General Code? Statutory requirements and consultation process: Under the 2018 Regulations: Trustees and other governing bodies must establish and operate an effective system of governance (ESOG). For simplicity, this article refers only to trustees. The General Code applies to all occupational pension schemes, with ESOG exemptions for public service schemes, authorised master trusts and authorised collective money purchase schemes. To this end, TPR must issue a Code of Practice covering ESOG and, for schemes with 100 or more members, related areas, including an own-risk assessment of the governance system and a remuneration policy. The General Code has been some time in development. The 2018 Regulations (SI 2018/1103) took effect in January 2019. TPR issued a draft Code for consultation in March 2021; the consultation closed in May 2021, and an interim response followed three months later. What was the outcome following the consultation? Have any significant changes been made? ...

Virgin Media issue On 1 September 2025, Pensions Minister Torsten Bell put forward a package of amendments to the Pension Schemes Bill, among other measures featuring a long-awaited remedy to the so-called Virgin Media problem. A July 2024 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Virgin Media Ltd v NTL Pension Trustees II Ltd and others [2024] EWCA Civ 843 created a precedent with potentially far-reaching consequences for former contracted-out, salary-related occupational pension schemes. The Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision, threw out the employer’s appeal and agreed with the High Court that, in the absence of actuarial confirmation, every modification to benefits within contracted-out salary-related occupational pension schemes was invalid...

The legislative framework The Pension Schemes Act 2017 The Pension Schemes Act 2017 (PSA 2017) is designed to strengthen safeguards for members of master trusts by tightening oversight of master trusts and addressing risk areas inherent in the master trust model when set beside other occupational pension schemes (such as profit-driven objectives, large cohorts of disengaged savers, and the potential jeopardy to pension pots if a master trust collapses). In summary, from 1 October 2018: master trusts must secure authorisation from the Pensions Regulator to operate as a master trust (with existing master trusts given until 31 March 2019 to submit an authorisation application, subject to any extension of the deadline granted by the Pensions Regulator). Five conditions must be met before the Pensions Regulator will grant authorisation—see: Authorisation criteria, below the Pensions Regulator has responsibility for the ongoing supervision of master trusts—see: Ongoing supervision and The Pensions Regulator’s proposed approach to supervision and enforcement, below master trusts must identify and manage ‘triggering...

Use of terms ‘connected’ and ‘associate’ in pensions Although initially coined within the insolvency/bankruptcy regime set out in the Insolvency Act 1986 and underlying regulations, the notions of ‘association’ and ‘connection’—together with the allied idea of ‘control’—have, over time, been adopted and applied across various parts of the UK’s pensions legislation framework for practical purposes in appropriate cases. Examples include: Moral hazard powers — the terms are employed in the moral hazard provisions of the Pensions Act 2004, in practice to assess the degree of distance or proximity of entities from sponsoring employers of occupational pension schemes, and whether such entities might be susceptible to the Pensions Regulator’s moral hazard powers, for example the issue of financial support directions and contribution notices — for further information, see Practice Notes: Contribution notices and Financial support directions Employer-related investments — the terms are used in the employer-related investment framework in relation to the capacity of trustees of occupational pension schemes to enter into dealings with the schemes’...

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES IN RELATION TO ALL PRIVATE SECTOR PENSION SCHEMES It applies across all private sector pension schemes. This Practice Note explores the pension matters that affect the seller on a business sale. For issues that concern the buyer, see Practice Note: Pension issues in business sales—acting for the buyer. For an outline of the pension considerations relevant to trustees of any occupational pension scheme in which the seller participates, see Practice Note: Corporate transactions—pension issues when acting for the trustees. Navigating pension aspects in the context of a business sale can be intricate. Corporate solicitors considering these points should bring in a pensions specialist as early as possible...