General
Section 306: Overriding requirements
1282.Subsection (1) provides for certain provisions of the Act (set out in subsection (3)) and legislation made under those provisions, to override conflicting provisions of an occupational or personal pension scheme. It also provides for the scheme to be modified accordingly by operation of law (so without further intervention by trustees or employer) in such a case.
1283.Subsection (4) makes similar provision in respect of the memorandum and articles of a company which is a trustee of an occupational pension scheme which has no other trustees, or has only corporate trustees. Where the memorandum and articles conflict with requirements under sections 242 and 243 (which deal with the involvement of scheme members in the nomination of directors of corporate trustees) then those requirements override the memorandum and articles which are then modified accordingly.
Section 307: Modification of this Act in relation to certain categories of schemes
1284.Subsection (1) states that the provisions mentioned in subsection (2) may be modified by regulations in relation to hybrid and multi-employer schemes and in relation to any case where a partnership is the employer, or one of the employers, in relation to an occupational pension scheme. Subsection (2) sets out the provisions that may be modified. Subsection (3) provides a power for the Secretary of State to modify by regulations Part 2 of the Act in relation to an eligible scheme that has a guarantee provided by a relevant public authority (defined in subsection (4)) in relation to some or all of the benefits or liabilities of the scheme.
1285.Subsection (4) sets out the meaning of the terms “hybrid scheme”, “multi-employer scheme”, “eligible scheme” and “relevant public authority”. “Hybrid scheme” is an occupational pension scheme which is not a money purchase scheme, but where some of the benefits that may be provided are money purchase benefits attributable to voluntary contributions of the members, or other money purchase benefits. “Multi-employer scheme” means an occupational pension scheme in relation to which there is more than one employer. “Eligible scheme” has the meaning given in section 126. “Relevant public authority” means a Minister of the Crown, a government department or the Scottish Ministers.
Section 308: Modification of pensions legislation that refers to employers
1286.The new definition of occupational pension scheme introduced by section 239, which amends section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, includes schemes which are not sponsored by a person who employs the scheme members. Certain references in pensions legislation to the ‘employer’ may not be appropriate for such schemes.
1287.Subsection (1) is a regulation-making power to modify any provision of pensions legislation (as defined in subsection (3)) for the purpose of ensuring, in the light of the fact that self-employed people do not have employers (but only clients etc), that the legislation does not inappropriately refer to the employer of a self-employed person.
1288.Subsection (2) also provides a regulation making power to modify provisions of pensions legislation provisions that refer to an employer. The power is available to deal, for example, with cases where an employer’s employees are members of a scheme but the employer has no involvement with the scheme and cases where an employer may have arranged for employees to join a scheme but does not make contributions. The power can be used to ensure that the employer in such a case is not caught by provisions that are not appropriate for an employer who is a non-participant, or limited participant.
Section 309: Offences by bodies corporate and partnerships
1289.Subsection (1) provides that where an offence under the Act has been committed by a body corporate or Scottish partnership, any officer of the body or partnership which consented to or connived in the commission of the offence, or to whose neglect it was attributable, is also guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
1290.Subsection (2) makes similar provision in relation to the members of a body corporate the affairs of which are managed by its members. Subsection (3) makes similar provision in relation to the partners in a Scottish partnership.
Section 310: Admissibility of statements
1291.Subsection (1) provides that any statement made by a person in response to a requirement (under the provisions of the Act listed in subsection (4)) to provide information is admissible in evidence in any proceedings, provided that it otherwise complies with any requirements governing its admissibility.
1292.But subsections (2) and (3) provide that where a person who has made such a statement is subject to criminal proceedings in which that person is charged with a “relevant offence” (defined in subsection (4)), or to the proceedings specified in subsection (3) as a result of which that person may be required to pay a civil penalty, no evidence or question relating to the statement may be adduced or asked by or on behalf of the prosecution, or as the case may be the Regulator, unless evidence or a question relating to it is first raised by or on behalf or the person who made the statement.
Section 311: Protected items
1293.This section protects from production, disclosure or inspection under the Act items comprising, or connected with, communications between a lawyer and client of a kind described in subsection (3), unless they are held with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose.
Section 312: Liens
1294.This section provides that where a document is subject to a lien (a type of charge over a document) its production under any provision of the Act does not affect the lien.
Section 313: Crown Application
1295.This section deals with the application of the Act to the Crown, specifying in particular which provisions apply to the Crown.
1296.Subsections (2), (3) and (4) provide for certain parts of the Act to apply to pension schemes managed by or on behalf of the Crown as they apply to other pension schemes and to Crown servants as if they were in employment with a private person. Subsection (5) provides however for nothing in the provisions which so apply to apply to Her Majesty in her private capacity.