The Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Personal pensions

Annual increase in rate of personal pension

158.—(1) This Article applies to any pension provided to give effect to protected rights of a member of a personal pension scheme if—

(a) there is in force, or was in force at any time after the appointed day, an appropriate scheme certificate issued in accordance with Chapter I or Part III (certification) of the Pension Schemes Act, and

(b) apart from this Article, the annual rate of the pension would not be increased each year by at least the appropriate percentage of that rate.

(2) Where a pension to which this Article applies, or any part of it, is attributable to contributions in respect of employment carried on on or after the appointed day—

(a) the annual rate of the pension, or

(b) if only part of the pension is attributable to contributions in respect of employment carried on on or after the appointed day, so much of the annual rate as is attributable to that part,

must be increased annually by at least the appropriate percentage.

Article 158: supplementary

159.—(1) The first increase required by Article 158 in the rate of a pension must take effect not later than the first anniversary of the date on which the pension is first paid, and subsequent increases must take effect at intervals of not more than 12 months.

(2) Where the first such increase is to take effect on a date when the pension has been in payment for a period of less than 12 months, the increase must be of an amount at least equal to one twelfth of the amount of the increase so required (apart from this paragraph) for each complete month in that period.

(3) In Article 158 and this Article—

“annual rate”, in relation to a pension, means the annual rate of the pension, as previously increased under the rules of the scheme or under Article 158,

“the appointed day” means the day appointed under Article 1 for the commencement of Article 158,

“appropriate percentage”, in relation to an increase in the whole or part of the annual rate of a pension, means the revaluation percentage for the revaluation period the reference period for which ends with the last preceding 30th September before the increase is made (expressions used in this definition having the same meaning as in Article 54(3)),

“pension”, in relation to a scheme, means any pension in payment under the scheme and includes an annuity,

“protected rights” has the meaning given by section 6 of the Pension Schemes Act (money purchase benefits).

Power to reject notice choosing appropriate personal pension scheme

160.  In section 40 of the Pension Schemes Act (earner’s chosen scheme)—

(a) in subsection (1), after paragraph (b) insert—

“then unless the Department rejects the notice on either or both of the grounds mentioned in subsection (1A)”, and

(b) after the subsection insert—

“(1A) The grounds referred to in subsection (1) are that the Department is of the opinion—

(a) that section 27(5) is not being complied with in respect of any members of the scheme,

(b) that, having regard to any other provisions of sections 22 to 28 and 39 to 41, it is inexpedient to allow the scheme to be the chosen scheme of any further earners.”.