The Occupational Pension Schemes (Employer Debt) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Money purchase schemes

Money purchase schemes: fraud and levy deficiencies etc.

10.—(1) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(a) of Article 75, that Article shall apply to money purchase schemes as if –

(a) paragraph (2) –

(i) provided that if the levy-deficit condition is met, the levy deficit is to be treated as a debt due from the employer to the trustees or managers of the scheme, and

(ii) were not subject to paragraph (3) of that Article;

(b) paragraph (4) provided that where the criminal-reduction conditions are met the criminal deficit is to be treated as a debt due from the employer to the trustees or managers of the scheme, and

(c) paragraphs (4A) to (4C) and (6) were omitted.

(2) The levy-deficit condition is that an amount payable by way of general levy in respect of any money purchase scheme exceeds the value of the unallocated assets of the scheme either –

(a) at the time when the amount first becomes payable to the Department, or

(b) at a later time designated by the trustees or managers of the scheme for the purposes of this paragraph.

(3) The criminal-reduction conditions are that –

(a) a reduction in the aggregate value of the allocated assets of the scheme occurs;

(b) the reduction is attributable to an act or omission which –

(i) constitutes an offence prescribed for the purposes of Article 79(1)(c) (cases where compensation provisions apply), or

(ii) in the case of an act or omission which occurred outside Northern Ireland, would constitute such an offence if it occurred in Northern Ireland, and

(c) immediately after the act or omission or, if that time cannot be determined, at the earliest time when the auditor of the scheme knows that the reduction has occurred, the amount of that reduction exceeds the value of the unallocated assets of the scheme.

(4) In this regulation –

“allocated assets”, in relation to a scheme, means assets which have been specifically allocated for the provision of benefits to or in respect of members (whether generally or individually) or for the payment of the scheme’s expenses (and “unallocated” is to be read accordingly);

“the criminal deficit” means the amount of the excess mentioned in paragraph (3)(c);

“the general levy” means the levy imposed under section 170 of the Pension Schemes Act(1) by regulation 2 of the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005(2);

“the levy deficit” means the amount of the excess mentioned in paragraph (2).

Money purchase schemes: valuations etc.

11.—(1) For the purposes of Article 75 as applied by regulation 10, this regulation shall apply instead of regulations 5 and 7.

(2) In the case of a scheme other than an ear-marked scheme –

(a) the value at any time of the unallocated assets of the scheme is to be taken to be the value of those assets as certified in a statement by the scheme’s auditor, and

(b) the amount of the criminal reduction in the aggregate value of the allocated assets of the scheme at any time is to be calculated by subtracting the actual aggregate value of those assets at that time from the notional aggregate value of those assets.

(3) The notional aggregate value mentioned in paragraph (2)(b) is to be taken to be the sum of the values of the assets –

(a) as stated in the audited accounts which most immediately precede the relevant act or omission, or

(b) if there are none, as certified in a statement by the scheme’s auditor,

adjusted appropriately to take account of any alteration in their values (other than any alteration attributable to that act or omission) between the date as at which those accounts are prepared or, as the case may be, as at which that statement is given and the time in question.

(4) The actual aggregate value mentioned in paragraph (2)(b) is to be calculated in the same manner as it was calculated for the purposes of the accounts mentioned in paragraph (3)(a) or, as the case may be, the statement mentioned in paragraph (3)(b).

(5) In the case of an ear-marked scheme –

(a) the value at any time of the unallocated assets of the scheme, and

(b) the amount of the criminal reduction in the aggregate value of the allocated assets of the scheme,

are the amounts certified in a statement by the relevant insurer.

(6) In this regulation –

“ear-marked scheme” means a scheme under which all the benefits are secured by one or more policies of insurance or annuity contracts, being policies or contracts specifically allocated to the provision of benefits for individual members or any other person who has a right to benefits under the scheme, and

“the relevant insurer”, in relation to such a scheme, is the insurer with whom the insurance contract or annuity contract is made.

Multi-employer money purchase schemes

12.—(1) In its application to a money purchase scheme that is a multi-employer scheme regulation 10 shall apply with the substitution for paragraph (1) of the following paragraphs –

“(1) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(a) of Article 75, that Article shall apply to money purchase schemes as if –

(a) paragraph (2) –

(i) provided that if the levy-deficit condition is met each employer’s share of the levy deficit is to be treated as a debt due from that employer to the trustees or managers of the scheme, and

(ii) were not subject to paragraph (3) of that Article;

(b) paragraph (4) provided that where the criminal-reduction conditions are met each employer’s share of the criminal deficit is to be treated as a debt due from the employer to the trustees or managers of the scheme, and

(c) paragraphs (4A) to (4C) and (6) were omitted.

(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (1), an employer’s share of the levy deficit or the criminal deficit is –

(a) such proportion of that total deficit as, in the opinion of the actuary, the amount of the scheme’s liabilities attributable to employment with that employer bears to the total amount of the scheme’s liabilities attributable to employment with the employers, or

(b) if the scheme provides for the total amount of that debt to be otherwise apportioned amongst the employers, the amount due from that employer under that provision.

(1B) For the purposes of paragraph (1A) –

(a) the total amount of the scheme’s liabilities which are attributable to employment with the employers, and

(b) the amount of the liabilities attributable to employment with any one employer,

are such amounts as are determined, calculated and verified by the actuary in accordance with the guidance given in GN 19; and a determination under this paragraph must be certified by the actuary as being in accordance with that guidance.”.

(2) Regulation 6 shall not apply to a money purchase scheme that is a multi-employer scheme.

Money purchase schemes: former employers

13.  Regulation 9 shall not apply to a money purchase scheme, but in the application of Article 75 and these Regulations to such a scheme which has no active members references to employers include every person who employed persons in the description of employment to which the scheme relates immediately before the occurrence of the event after which the scheme ceased to have any active members.

(1)

Section 170 was substituted by Article 161 of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and is amended by paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to, and Schedule 11 to, the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 2005

(2)

S.R. 2005 No. 92