SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 11PENSIONS

Protection for certain persons

4

1

Regulations may make provision for the purpose of securing that—

a

no person to whom paragraph 5(1) or (2) applies is placed in any worse position by reason of—

i

any winding up, in whole or in part, of a relevant scheme, that is to say, the scheme, a scheme provided by a successor company or any other scheme which is provided or amended in pursuance of the regulations; or

ii

any amendment of a relevant scheme which results in benefits under that scheme being reduced, or contributions by employees being increased, and is made otherwise than in such circumstances as may be prescribed;

b

no person to whom paragraph 5(1) applies is prevented from continuing to participate in or acquire pension rights under a relevant scheme by reason of any change of employer—

i

which does not affect his continuity of employment and is made otherwise than in such circumstances as may be prescribed; and

ii

in the case of which his new employer either is a participant in a relevant scheme or is wholly owned by one or more companies which or each of which is such a participant; and

c

no person to whom paragraph 5(1) applies is placed in any worse position by reason of any change of employer which does not affect his continuity of employment but prevents him from continuing to participate in or acquire pension rights under a relevant scheme;

and the references in heads (a) and (c) to any worse position shall be construed, in relation to a person to whom paragraph 5(1) applies who, after the transfer date, ceases to participate in or acquire pension rights under the scheme, as references to a position which is any worse than his position immediately before he so ceases.

2

Regulations under this paragraph may impose duties (whether as to the amendment of the scheme, the provision or amendment of other schemes, the purchase of annuities, the making of payments or otherwise) on persons who are or have been employers of persons to whom paragraph 5(1) or (2) applies; and duties so imposed on any person may include duties owed to persons of whom he is not and has not been an employer.

3

Regulations under this paragraph may also provide for any dispute arising under them to be referred to arbitration.

4

Paragraph 2(4) shall apply for the purposes of this paragraph as it applies for the purposes of that paragraph.

5

1

Subject to sub-paragraph (3), this sub-paragraph applies to—

a

any existing employee who, immediately before the transfer date, is a participant in the scheme;

b

any existing employee who, after that date, participates in a relevant scheme within 3 months of his attaining the minimum age for such participation; and

c

any former participant who, after that date, participates in or acquires pension rights under a relevant scheme in such circumstances as may be prescribed by regulations under paragraph 4.

2

Subject to sub-paragraph (3), this sub-paragraph applies to—

a

any person not falling within sub paragraph (1)(c) who, immediately before the transfer date, is not a participant in the scheme but has pension rights under the scheme; and

b

any person who, after that date, acquires pension rights under a relevant scheme by reason of the death of a person falling within sub-paragraph (1) or head (a),

but only as respects the pension rights by virtue of which he falls within head (a) or (b).

3

Any person to whom sub-paragraph (1) or (2) applies may elect in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations under paragraph 4 that that sub-paragraph shall cease to apply to him; and if any person to whom sub-paragraph (1) applies—

a

ceases to be in continuous employment; or

b

voluntarily withdraws from a relevant scheme,

otherwise than in such circumstances as may be so prescribed, that sub-paragraph shall cease to apply to him except as respects pension rights which have accrued to him before that time.

6

1

So much of Schedule 1 to the Contracts of Employment and Redundancy Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 1965F1 as has effect for the purpose of ascertaining whether any employment is continuous shall apply for the purposes of paragraphs 4 and 5 as if—

a

those paragraphs were contained in that Act; and

b

in that Schedule “associated employer”, in relation to a company participating in a relevant scheme, included any other company participating in such a scheme and any other company of which a company so participating has control, or 2 or more companies so participating together have control;

but regulations under paragraph 4 may provide that no account shall be taken for those purposes of any person ceasing to be in continuous employment for such periods and in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the regulations.

2

For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), a company has control, or 2 or more companies together have control, of another company ( “the other company”) if—

a

that company, or each of those companies, is a member of the other company and that company controls, or those companies together control, the composition of the other company's board of directors;

b

that company holds, or those companies together hold, more than half in nominal value of the other company's equity share capital;

c

a company of which the company has control, or those companies together have control, has control of the other company; or

d

2 or more companies of which that company has control, or those companies together have control, together have control of the other company;

and Article 4(2) to (4) of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986F2 (as originally made and not as substituted by Article 62(1) of the Companies (No. 2) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990F3) shall, with any necessary modifications, apply for the purposes of this sub-paragraph as it applies for purposes of paragraph (1) of that Article.