The Occupational Pension Schemes (Winding Up) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Disapplication of Article 38

10.—(1) Article 38 does not apply—

(a) to any scheme in relation to which no relevant employer debt event has occurred;

(b) to a scheme in respect of which any Minister of the Crown or government department has given a guarantee or made any other arrangements for the purpose of securing that the assets of the scheme are sufficient to meet its liabilities;

(c) to a scheme which provides relevant benefits, but is neither an approved scheme nor a relevant statutory scheme;

(d) to a section 615(6) scheme;

(e) to a scheme with less than 2 members;

(f) to a small self-administered scheme which is an approved scheme;

(g) to a scheme the only benefits provided by which (other than money purchase benefits) are death benefits; or

(h) to a relevant lump sum retirement benefits scheme.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a relevant employer debt event has only occurred in relation to a scheme if (apart from Article 38 or any other power to defer winding up the scheme) the rules of the scheme require the scheme to be wound up as a result of a relevant insolvency event having occurred in relation to any person who immediately before the event occurred was an employer in relation to the scheme; and for the purposes of this paragraph—

(a) Article 75(4) (definition of relevant insolvency events) applies as it applies for the purposes of Article 75 (disregarding any modifications of that Article); and

(b) in the case of a scheme which has no active members, the reference to an employer is to the person who was the employer immediately before the occurrence of the event after which the scheme ceased to have any active members.

(3) In this regulation—

“approved scheme” means a scheme which is approved or was formerly approved under section 590 or 591 of the Taxes Act 1988 or in respect of which an application for such approval has been duly made which has not been determined;

“lump sum benefits” does not include benefits paid by way of commuted retirement pension;

“relevant benefits” has the meaning given in section 612(1) of the Taxes Act 1988;

“relevant lump sum retirement benefits scheme” means an approved scheme—

(a)

which has been categorised by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for the purposes of its approval as a centralised scheme for non-associated employers;

(b)

which is not contracted-out; and

(c)

under the provisions of which the only benefits which may be provided on or after retirement (other than money purchase benefits derived from the payment of additional contributions by any person) are lump sum benefits which are not calculated by reference to any member’s salary;

“relevant statutory scheme” has the meaning given in section 611A of the Taxes Act 1988(1);

“section 615(6) scheme” means a scheme with such a superannuation fund as is mentioned in section 615(6) of the Taxes Act 1988;

“small self-administered scheme” has the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the Retirement Benefits Schemes (Restriction on Discretion to Approve) (Small Self-administered Schemes) Regulations 1991(2).

(1)

Section 611A was inserted by paragraph 15 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26)

(2)

S.I.1991/1614