The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Non-discrimination rule

2.—(1) Every scheme shall be treated as including a provision (“the non-discrimination rule”) containing a requirement that the trustees or managers of the scheme refrain from doing any act which is unlawful by virtue of regulation 12.

(2) The other provisions of the scheme are to have effect subject to the non-discrimination rule.

(3) The trustees or managers of a scheme may—

(a) if they do not (apart from this sub-paragraph) have power to make such alterations to the scheme as may be required to secure conformity with the non-discrimination rule, or

(b) if they have such power but the procedure for doing so—

(i) is liable to be unduly complex or protracted, or

(ii) involves the obtaining of consents which cannot be obtained, or can only be obtained with undue delay or difficulty,

by resolution make such alterations to the scheme.

(4) Alterations made by a resolution such as is referred to in sub-paragraph (3)—

(a) may have effect in relation to a period before the alterations are made (but may not have effect in relation to any time before 1st October 2006), and

(b) shall be subject to the consent of any employer in relation to the scheme whose consent would be required for such a modification if it were to be made using the scheme rules.