The Pensions Act 2004 (Commencement No. 10 and Saving Provision) Order 2006

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order makes further provision for the coming into force of provisions of the Pensions Act 2004 (c.35) (“the Act”).

Article 2(1) appoints the day for the coming into force of sections 177(5) and (8) and 178(5) of the Act (amounts to be raised by the pension protection levies and the levy ceiling) as 1st September 2006.

Article 2(2) appoints the day for the coming into force of sections 177(4) and 178(4), (7) and (9) of the Act as 1st September 2006 for the purpose of conferring power to make regulations and 1st October 2006 for all other purposes.

Article 2(3) appoints the day for the coming into force of paragraph 11 of Schedule 12 to the Act (amendment of section 56 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 (c.48)), in so far as it is not already in force, and section 319(1) in so far as it relates to that paragraph as 1st October 2006 for the purpose of conferring power to make regulations and 1st November 2006 for all other purposes.

Article 2(4) appoints the day for the coming into force of section 178(6) of the Act (the levy ceiling) as 1st October 2006 for the purpose of conferring power to make an order and 1st December 2006 for all other purposes.

Article 2(5) appoints the day for the coming into force of the provisions of the Act specified in Part 1 of the Schedule as 1st November 2006 for the purpose of conferring power to make regulations and 6th April 2007 for all other purposes. Those provisions are—

• section 153(4) and (7) (closed schemes);

• section 155(1) and (4) (treatment of closed schemes);

• section 156(1), (2), (5) and (6) (valuations of closed schemes);

• section 157(1), (7) and (9) (applications and notifications where closed schemes have insufficient assets).

Article 2(6) appoints the day for the coming into force of sections 117(7) and 178 of the Act (administration levy and the levy ceiling), in so far as those provisions are not already in force as 1st January 2007 for the purpose of conferring power to make regulations or, as the case may be, an order, and 1st March 2007 for all other purposes.

Article 2(7) appoints the day for the coming into force of the provisions of the Act specified in Part 2 of the Schedule as 6th April 2007. Those provisions are—

• section 132, in so far as it is not already in force (assessment periods);

• section 153, in so far as it is not already in force (closed schemes);

• section 154, in so far as it is not already in force (requirement to wind up schemes with sufficient assets to meet protected liabilities);

• section 155, in so far as it is not already in force (treatment of closed schemes);

• section 156, in so far as it is not already in force (valuations of closed schemes);

• section 157, in so far as it is not already in force (applications and notifications where closed schemes have insufficient assets);

• section 158 (duty to assume responsibility for closed schemes);

• section 159 (closed schemes: further assessment periods);

• section 160, in so far as it is not already in force (transfer notice);

• section 172, in so far as it is not already in force (relationship with fraud compensation regime);

• a repeal in Schedule 13 (repeals), and section 320 in so far as it relates to that provision.

Article 3 contains a saving provision, which preserves the application of the definition of “minimum funding requirement” in section 124(1) of the Pensions Act 1995 (c.26) for the purposes of the transitional period contained in Schedule 4 to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Funding) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/3377).