These Regulations are made under the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (“the 1995 Order”). They make amendments to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Minimum Funding Requirement and Actuarial Valuations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, the Occupational Pension Schemes (Deficiency on Winding Up, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 and the Occupational Pension Schemes (Winding Up) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

Regulation 1 provides for citation and commencement.

Regulation 2 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Minimum Funding Requirement and Actuarial Valuations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 so as to make miscellaneous amendments to regulations 2, 7, 12, 16, 17, 18, 20 and 21 of, and Schedules 2, 3 and 4 to, those Regulations. The amendments extend the deficit correction periods within which scheme underfunding must be made good, remove the requirement for annual recertifications for schemes that are fully funded and include a number of minor technical amendments.

Regulation 3 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Deficiency on Winding Up, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 so to provide that, where a scheme is in the process of winding up and the employer is not insolvent, the scheme’s liabilities are to be calculated so as to include the actual cost of winding up and the cost of securing pensions or other benefits in payment by way of annuities.

Regulation 4 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Winding Up) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 so as to amend the calculation of liabilities in respect of any pension or other benefit (including any increase in a pension) which has become payable under a scheme in circumstances where the scheme winds up and the employer is not insolvent at the time the winding up commenced.

Regulation 5 makes consequential amendments to Article 60(7A) of the 1995 Order.

As these Regulations, in so far as they are made under Part II of the 1995 Order, make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain, the requirement for consultation does not apply by virtue of Article 117(2)(e) of the 1995 Order.

Articles 58(6)(a) and 59(3) of the 1995 Order, some of the enabling provisions under which these Regulations are made, were amended by paragraph 12 of Schedule 2 to the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (“the 1999 Order”). The Welfare Reform and Pensions (1999 Order) (Commencement No. 11) Order (Northern Ireland) 2002 (S.R. 2002 No. 63 (C. 4)) provides for the coming into operation of paragraph 12 of Schedule 2 to the 1999 Order, in so far as it is not already in operation, on 19th March 2002.

An assessment of the cost to business of these Regulations is detailed in a Regulatory Impact Assessment, copies of which have been laid in the Business Office and the Library of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Copies of the Assessment are available from the Department for Social Development, Social Security Policy and Legislation Division, Room 5, Block 5, Stormont Estate, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SJ.