Actuarial valuations
Actuarial valuations of pension funds
60.—(1) An administering authority must obtain—
(a)an actuarial valuation of the assets and liabilities of each of its pension funds as at 31st March 2020 and on 31st March in every third year afterwards;
(b)a report by an actuary in respect of the valuation; and
(c)a rates and adjustments certificate prepared by an actuary.
(2) Each of those documents must be obtained before the first anniversary of the date (“the valuation date”) as at which the valuation is made or such later date as the Scottish Ministers may agree.
(3) A report under paragraph (1)(b) must contain a statement of the demographic assumptions used in making the valuation; and the statement must show how the assumptions relate to the events which have actually occurred in relation to members of the Scheme since the last valuation.
(4) A rates and adjustments certificate is a certificate specifying—
(a)the primary rate of the employer’s contribution; and
(b)the secondary rate of the employer’s contribution,
for each year of the period of 3 years beginning with 1st April in the year following that in which the valuation date falls.
(5) The actuary must have regard to—
(a)the existing and prospective liabilities arising from circumstances common to all those bodies;
(b)the desirability of maintaining as nearly constant a primary rate as possible;
(c)the current version of the administering authority’s funding strategy mentioned in regulation 56 (funding strategy statements); and
(d)the requirement to secure the solvency of the pension fund and the long term cost efficiency of the Scheme, so far as relating to the pension fund.
(6) A rates and adjustments certificate must contain a statement of the assumptions on which the certificate is given as respects—
(a)the number of members who will become entitled to payment of pensions under the provisions of the Scheme; and
(b)the amount of the liabilities arising in respect of such members,
during the period covered by the certificate.
(7) The administering authority must provide the actuary preparing a valuation or a rates and adjustments certificate with the consolidated revenue account of the fund and such other information as the actuary requests.
(8) In this regulation—
(a)the primary rate of an employer’s contribution is the amount in respect of the cost of future accruals which, in the actuary’s opinion, should be paid to a fund by all bodies whose employees contribute to it so as to secure its solvency, expressed as a percentage of the pay of their employees who are active members; and
(b)the secondary rate of an employer’s contributions is any percentage or amount by which, in the actuary’s opinion, contributions at the primary rate should, in the case of a Scheme employer, be increased or reduced by reason of any circumstances peculiar to that employer.
Special circumstances where revised actuarial valuations and certificates must be obtained
61.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), if a person—
(a)ceases to be a Scheme employer (including ceasing to be an admission body participating in the Scheme); or
(b)is or was a Scheme employer, but, irrespective of whether that employer employs active members contributing to one or more other funds, no longer has an active member contributing towards a fund which has liabilities in respect of benefits in respect of current and former employees of that employer,
that person becomes “an exiting employer” in relation to the relevant fund for the purposes of this regulation and is liable to pay the exit payment or to receive the exit credit.
(2) When a person becomes an exiting employer, the appropriate administering authority must obtain—
(a)an actuarial valuation as at the exit date of the liabilities of the fund in respect of benefits in respect of the exiting employer’s current and former employees; and
(b)a revised rates and adjustments certificate showing the exit payment due from the exiting employer, or exit credit payable to the exiting employer, in respect of those benefits.
(3) An administering authority may by written notice (“suspension notice”) to an employer suspend that employer’s liability to pay an exit payment starting from the date when that employer would otherwise become an exiting employer.
(4) If an administering authority serves a suspension notice the employer must continue to make such contributions towards the liabilities of the fund in respect of benefits for the employer’s current and former employees until a new and satisfactory valuation is carried out and the suspension notice is withdrawn.
(5) Where for any reason it is not possible to obtain all or part of the exit payment due from the exiting employer, or from an insurer, or any person providing an indemnity, bond or guarantee on behalf of the exiting employer, the administering authority must obtain a further revision of any rates and adjustments certificate for the fund showing—
(a)in the case where a body is an admission body falling within paragraph 1(d) of Part 2 of schedule 2 of these Regulations (Scheme employers: bodies providing services as a result of transfer of a service), the revised contribution due from the body which is the related employer in relation to that admission body; and
(b)in any other case, the revised contributions due from each Scheme employer which contributes to the fund,
with a view to providing that assets equivalent to the exit payment due from the exiting employer are provided to the fund over such period of time as the administering authority considers reasonable.
(6) Where in the opinion of an administering authority there are circumstances which make it likely that a Scheme employer (including an admission body) will become an exiting employer, the administering authority may obtain from an actuary a certificate specifying the percentage or amount by which, in the actuary’s opinion—
(a)the contribution at the primary rate should be adjusted; or
(b)any prior secondary rate adjustment should be increased or reduced,
with a view to providing that assets equivalent to the exit payment that will be due from the Scheme employer are provided to the fund by the likely exit date or, where the Scheme employer is unable to meet that liability by that date, over such period of time thereafter as the administering authority considers reasonable.
(7) When an exiting employer has paid the exit payment into the appropriate fund (or received the exit credit), no further payments are due from that employer in respect of any liabilities relating to the benefits in respect of any current or former employees of that employer as a result of these Regulations.
(8) Paragraph (7) applies where—
(a)a Scheme employer agrees to pay increased contributions to meet the cost of an award of additional pension under regulation 30 (award of additional pension); or
(b)it appears likely to an administering authority that the amount of the liabilities arising or likely to arise in respect of members in employment with a Scheme employer exceeds the amount specified, or likely as a result of the assumptions stated, for that authority, in a rates and adjustments certificate by virtue of regulation 60(6) (actuarial valuations of pension funds: assumptions).
(9) The administering authority must obtain a revision of the rates and adjustments certificate concerned, showing the resulting changes as respects that Scheme employer.
(10) For the purposes of this regulation—
“exiting employer” means an employer of any of the descriptions specified in paragraph (1);
“exit payment” means the amount as set out in the rates and adjustments certificate referred to in sub-paragraph (2)(b) required to be paid by the exiting employer over such period of time as the administering authority considers reasonable, to meet the liabilities specified in paragraph (2);
“exit credit” means the amount required to be paid to the exiting employer by the administering authority to meet the excess of assets in the fund relating to that employer over the liabilities specified in paragraph (2)(a);
“exit date” means the date on which the employer becomes an exiting employer; and
“related employer” means any Scheme employer or other such contracting body which is a party to the admission agreement (other than an administering authority in its role as an administering authority).