5Railway, etc., pension schemes
(1)The Railways Board shall, subject to and in accordance with the following provisions of this section, provide the money for funding the prescribed obligations owed by the Board in connection with any prescribed relevant pension schemes in force on the appointed day, in so far as those obligations have not been funded before that day.
(2)The obligations which may be prescribed under subsection (1) above shall not include any obligation imposed on the Board by an amendment made to a pension scheme after the appointed day or an obligation of the Board arising after that day to pay increases of pensions payable under any such scheme in excess of the increases payable on official pensions under the [1971 c. 56.] Pensions (Increase) Act 1971.
(3)The money to be provided for funding the prescribed obligations shall, for any prescribed period, be a prescribed aggregate amount which shall be apportioned in accordance with an order made by the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury between the prescribed pension schemes and—
(a)the amounts so apportioned shall be debts of the Railways Board to the persons administering those schemes respectively, to be paid off by the prescribed instalments and on the prescribed dates ; and
(b)interest at the prescribed rate shall be payable on those debts on prescribed dates.
(4)Different provision may be made by an order made by virtue of subsection (3)(a) above for different debts.
(5)An order made under this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order thereunder, but not so as—
(a)to reduce the principal of any debt of the Railways Board to the persons administering a prescribed pension scheme below the minimum amount prescribed for that debt by the order by virtue of which the debt was created; or
(b)to alter the date by which any instalment of any such debt is to be paid off or the rate of interest payable on any such debt.
(6)No order shall be made under this section after the end of 1979.
(7)The Railways Board may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, appoint persons (who may be the Board) to be trustees to act on behalf of persons administering a prescribed pension scheme and on trusts approved by him for the purposes of this section; and where trustees are so appointed payments under this section in respect of the principal of or interest on the debts due by virtue of this section to the persons administering the prescribed pension scheme may be made by the Board to those trustees.
(8)The funding of an obligation under this section shall not discharge the obligation so far as it is one to pay pensions or increases of pension under the relevant pension scheme owed to the persons to whom pensions or increases of pension are or may become payable under the scheme or is an obligation to secure the payment of those pensions or increases.
(9)If the persons administering a prescribed pension scheme have no power to amend the scheme apart from this subsection, they may amend it by instrument in writing for the purpose of bringing it into conformity with any provision of this section or section 6 below or any order under either section, and any power of amending any such scheme apart from this subsection may for that purpose be exercised without regard to any limitations on the exercise of the power and without compliance with any procedural provisions applicable to its exercise.
(10)The Secretary of State shall, in so far as he is not required to do so under any of the relevant transport regulations, reimburse the Railways Board in respect of any sums paid under this section in respect of the principal of or interest on the debts due by virtue of this section, and any sums required by him for that purpose shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.