PART 1General

Application of these Regulations4.

F1(1)

Subject to paragraphs (2), (3), (6) and (9), the trustees or managers of an occupational pension scheme that falls within paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 must give information in accordance with regulations 6, 8, 9 to 17, 18 to 22, 24 and 25 and, where the scheme falls within Article 35 of the 1995 Order (investment principles) or the scheme is a relevant scheme within the meaning of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997, regulation 29A.

(2)

Regulations 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15 do not apply to a public service pension scheme14 if—

(a)

there are no requirements for assets related to the intended rate or amount of benefit under the scheme to be set aside in advance (disregarding requirements relating to additional voluntary contributions);

(b)

it is made under Article 9 of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 197215 (superannuation of persons employed in local government service, etc.) F2or it is a defined benefits scheme under section 1 of the 2014 Act (schemes for persons in public service) in relation to persons specified in subsection (2)(c) of that section, or

(c)

it F3is established under section 48 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (pensions of members), or was established under Part 2 of the Ministerial Salaries and Members’ Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 196516 or Article 3 of the Assembly Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 197617.

(3)

Regulation 17 does not apply to a stakeholder pension scheme within the meaning of Article 318 of the 1999 Order.

(4)

Subject to paragraph (6), the trustees or managers of a pension scheme that is—

(a)

an occupational pension scheme that does not fall within paragraph 1 of Schedule 1, or

(b)

established under the Salvation Army Act 196319,

must give information in accordance with regulation 7.

(5)

Subject to paragraphs (3) and (6), the managers of a personal pension scheme that falls within paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 must give information in accordance with regulations 10, 17 F4, 18 , 21 and 23.

(6)

Paragraphs (1), (4) and (5) do not require the trustees or managers of a scheme to give information to—

(a)

a member or prospective member if no person who employs that member in relevant employment has informed the trustees or managers of the scheme that that member is a member or prospective member;

(b)

a recognised trade union if no person who employs a member or prospective member in relation to whom the trade union is a recognised trade union has informed the trustees or managers of the scheme that the trade union is a recognised trade union, or

(c)

a member of an occupational pension scheme where all the members are trustees or managers of the scheme.

(7)

F5Except where information is given verbally in accordance with regulation 18B(3) F6or 18C(4) or (7), when any information is given in accordance with paragraph (1), (4) or (5), it must be accompanied by the postal address and electronic address to which a person should send requests for further information or any other enquiry.

F7(8)

In this regulation “defined benefits scheme” has the meaning given in section 34 of the 2014 Act.

F8(9)

Regulations 12A, 17, 18B, 19 and 25 do not apply to a collective money purchase scheme.

(10)

For the purposes of these Regulations, where a pension scheme is divided into sections, each section that is a collective money purchase scheme is to be treated as a separate scheme.