Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008

Transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes

30.—(1) Subsection (3) applies if, in relation to a person who on the employer’s first enrolment date is a jobholder to whom section 3 applies, the conditions in subsection (2) are satisfied, and continue to be satisfied during the transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes.

(2) The conditions are that—

(a) the jobholder has been employed by the employer for a continuous period beginning before the employer’s first enrolment date,

(b) at a time in that period before the employer’s first enrolment date, the jobholder became entitled to become an active member of a defined benefits scheme or a hybrid scheme,

(c) the jobholder is, and has always since that time been, entitled to become an active member of a defined benefits scheme or a hybrid scheme, and

(d) the scheme to which that entitlement relates is a qualifying scheme, and any scheme to which it has related on or after the employer’s first enrolment date has been a qualifying scheme.

(3) Where this subsection applies, section 3 has effect in relation to the jobholder with the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection—

“(2) The employer must make prescribed arrangements by which the jobholder becomes an active member, with effect from the end of the transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes, of an automatic enrolment scheme which is a defined benefits scheme or a hybrid scheme.”.

(4) If at any time in the transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes the condition in subsection (2)(c) or (d) ceases to be satisfied, subsection (5) applies instead of subsection (3) (and the day after the last day on which that condition is satisfied is referred to as “the closure date”).

(5) Where this subsection applies, section 3 has effect in relation to the jobholder with the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection—

“(2) The employer must make prescribed arrangements by which the jobholder either—

(a) becomes an active member, with effect from the closure date, of an automatic enrolment scheme which is a defined benefits scheme or a hybrid scheme, or

(b) becomes an active member, with effect from the automatic enrolment date, of an automatic enrolment scheme which is a money purchase scheme.”.

(6) If the jobholder becomes a member of a scheme under arrangements made under subsection (2)(b) of that section (as substituted by subsection (5))—

(a) the employer’s contributions are payable with effect from the automatic enrolment date;

(b) any requirement of the scheme (in accordance with section 20(1)) for contributions to be payable by the jobholder does not apply in respect of the period of the jobholder’s membership before the closure date;

(c) regulations made for the purposes of section 3(2)(b) must secure that the jobholder may pay, within a period prescribed by the regulations, any contributions which would have been payable by the jobholder but for paragraph (b) of this subsection.

(7) Where subsection (3) or (5) applies, section 3(3) and (4) applies as if references to the automatic enrolment date were references to the day on which arrangements would by virtue of this section fall to be made in respect of the jobholder.

(8) The transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes is a prescribed period beginning with the day on which section 3 comes into operation.

(9) In this section, the “employer’s first enrolment date” means the first day on which section 3 applies in the case of the employer (where that day falls within the transitional period for defined benefits and hybrid schemes).