EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations revoke and re-enact the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (Transitional Provisions and Appropriate Independent Advice) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019 (“the Amendment Regulations”) which would otherwise cease to have effect by virtue of section 85(3)(b) of the Pension Schemes Act 2015. Like the Amendment Regulations, the Regulations amend the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (Transitional Provisions and Appropriate Independent Advice) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (“the Advice Regulations”), which relate to the requirement in section 51 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) that the trustees or managers of a pension scheme must check that a member or survivor has received appropriate independent advice before carrying out certain transactions. The requirement applies to a member’s or survivor’s “safeguarded benefits”, meaning benefits which are neither money purchase benefits nor cash balance benefits (as defined in sections 51(8), 75 and 76(3) of the 2015 Act).
Regulation 4 substitutes regulation 5 of the Advice Regulations, which provides an exception to the requirement to obtain advice. The effect of regulation 5 as substituted is that the exception applies where the “transfer value” (as defined in paragraph (2) of regulation 5) of the member’s or survivor’s safeguarded benefits under the scheme is £30,000 or less.
Regulation 5 makes a consequential amendment.
Regulation 6 revokes the Amendment Regulations.
An assessment of the impact of the Regulations is detailed in a Regulatory Impact Assessment which accompanied the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (Transitional Provisions and Appropriate Independent Advice) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018 (S.R. 2018 No. 46), a copy of which was laid in the Business Office and the Library of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Copies of the Assessment are available from the Department for Communities, Social Security Policy and Legislation Division, Level 8, Causeway Exchange, 1-7 Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7EG or from the website: https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/articles/pension-information. A copy of the Assessment is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside this Statutory Rule on the website: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr