Energy Act 2004

Protection on transfer in accordance with a nuclear transfer scheme

10 (1) Before the coming into force of a nuclear transfer scheme in relation to which persons are entitled to pension protection the Secretary of State must consult—

(a) the appropriate pension scheme authority;

(b) the Treasury; and

(c) such persons as appear to him to represent the persons who will be entitled to pension protection in relation to the scheme.

(2) Before the coming into force of such a transfer scheme, the Secretary of State must satisfy himself that every person entitled to pension protection in relation to the scheme will be entitled, by virtue of the employment that he will hold after the relevant time—

(a) to exercise an option of becoming a participant in an appropriate pension scheme; or

(b) in the case of a person to whom paragraph 9(7)(c) will apply immediately before the relevant time, to exercise such an option on or before attaining the age or fulfilling the condition in question.

(3) The Secretary of State’s duty under sub-paragraph (2) is owed to every person who is entitled to pension protection in relation to the transfer scheme.

(4) In the case of a person to whom paragraph 9(5)(d)(ii) applies, the references in sub-paragraph (2) to a person being entitled to exercise an option are to be construed as references to a person being entitled to exercise an option if his employer exercises the entitlement mentioned in paragraph 9(5)(d)(ii).

(5) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2), a pension scheme is an appropriate pension scheme in relation to a person if the Secretary of State is satisfied that—

(a) taking into account the other benefits (if any) that are conferred on or made available to that person as a result of the employment that he will hold after the relevant time, and

(b) taking the benefits that are available under the provisions of that pension scheme as a whole,

the benefits that are available under those provisions are no less favourable than the benefits available under the provisions (taken as a whole) of the nuclear pension scheme in respect of which he is entitled to protection under this Part of this Schedule.

(6) In sub-paragraph (5) the reference to the scheme in respect of which a person is entitled to protection under this Part of this Schedule is a reference to—

(a) in the case of a person who has not previously been owed a duty under either sub-paragraph (2) or paragraph 11(3), the scheme by reference to which paragraph 9(7) will apply to him immediately before the relevant time; and

(b) in other cases, the scheme by reference to which paragraph 9(7) applied to him immediately before the time that was the relevant time in relation to him on the first occasion on which he was owed such a duty;

and the reference, in relation to such a person, to the provisions of that scheme is a reference to its provisions as in force immediately before the time specified in sub-paragraph (7).

(7) That time is—

(a) in a case falling within sub-paragraph (6)(a), the relevant time; or

(b) in a case falling within sub-paragraph (6)(b), the relevant time in relation to the person on the first occasion on which he was owed a duty under either sub-paragraph (2) or paragraph 11(3).

(8) Where a person—

(a) is a participant in a non-nuclear pension scheme by virtue of the exercise of an option in a case in which the Secretary of State discharged his duty to that person under sub-paragraph (2) by reference to that option, or

(b) is or will become entitled to exercise an option to become a participant in such a pension scheme in a case in which the Secretary of State discharged his duty to that person under sub-paragraph (2) by reference to that entitlement,

this Part of this Schedule shall have effect in relation to that person as if that scheme were a nuclear pension scheme.

(9) Sub-paragraph (8) does not apply in relation to a person to whom paragraph 9(5)(d)(ii) applied when the Secretary of State discharged his duty to that person under sub-paragraph (2) unless the person’s employer exercises the entitlement mentioned in paragraph 9(5)(d)(ii).

(10) In this paragraph “relevant time” has the same meaning as in paragraph 9.