Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993

[F1 33 Alteration of rules of contracted-out schemes. N.I.

(1) Except in prescribed cases, the rules of a scheme that was a salary related contracted-out scheme cannot be altered unless the alteration is of a prescribed description.

(2) Regulations made by virtue of subsection (1) may operate so as to validate with retrospective effect any alteration of the rules which would otherwise be void under this section.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a scheme if no person is entitled to receive, or has accrued rights to, any benefits under the scheme attributable to a period when the scheme was contracted-out.]

[F2 (4) The reference in subsection (3) to a person entitled to receive benefits under a scheme includes a person who is so entitled by virtue of a qualifying relationship only in such cases as may be prescribed.

(5) For that purpose a person is entitled to receive benefits by virtue of a qualifying relationship if the person is so entitled by virtue of being—

(a) the widower of a female earner;

(b) the widower of a male earner;

(c) the widow of a female earner, except where it is a relevant gender change case; or

(d) the survivor of a civil partnership with an earner [F3 , except for a surviving civil partner who is a woman in the case of an earner to whom subsection (5A) applies].

[F4 (5A) This subsection applies to an earner who is—

(a) a man, or

(b) a woman in a relevant gender change case.]

(6) [F5 A reference in subsection (5)(c) or (d) or (5A)] to a relevant gender change case is a reference to a case where—

(a) the earner is a woman by virtue of a full gender recognition certificate having been issued under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and

(b) the marriage of the earner and her widow [F6 , or the civil partnership between the earner and her surviving civil partner,] (that ends with the earner’s death) subsisted before the time when the certificate was issued.

(7) This section is subject to regulations under section 34A.]

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 33(1)-(3) substituted (14.9.2015 for specified purposes, 6.4.2016 in so far as not already in force) by Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 (c. 5), s. 53(3), Sch. 13 para. 24; S.R. 2015/329, art. 2(1)(b)

F2 S. 33(4)-(7) substituted for s. 33(4) (13.1.2020) by The Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1514), regs. 1(2), 68(5) (with regs. 6-9)

F3 Words in s. 33(5)(d) inserted (7.12.2020) by The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1143), regs. 1(2), 40(5)(a)

F4 S. 33(5A) inserted (7.12.2020) by The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1143), regs. 1(2), 40(5)(b)

F5 Words in s. 33(6) substituted (7.12.2020) by The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1143), regs. 1(2), 40(5)(c)(i)

F6 Words in s. 33(6)(b) inserted (7.12.2020) by The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1143), regs. 1(2), 40(5)(c)(ii)