The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2024 No. 39

Pensions

The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024

Made

6th March 2024

Coming into operation

1st April 2024

The Department for Communities makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 170 and 177(2) and (3) of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993(1) and now vested in it(2).

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 and shall come into operation on 1st April 2024.

(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendment of the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) Regulations

2.—(1) The Schedule to the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005(4) (amount of the general levy) is amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (13).

(2) For paragraph 2 substitute—

“2.   The following Table relates to defined benefits schemes and hybrid schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2024.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£68
12 to 99	£6∙75 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£4∙88 x M	£669
1,000 to 4,999	£3∙79 x M	£4,876
5,000 to 9,999	£2∙89 x M	£18,947
10,000 to 499,999	£2∙01 x M	£28,898
500,000 or more	£1∙52 x M	£1,004,998”

(3) For paragraph 3 substitute—

“3.   The following Table relates to defined benefits schemes and hybrid schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2025.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£73
12 to 99	£7∙19 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£5∙19 x M	£712
1,000 to 4,999	£4∙04 x M	£5,185
5,000 to 9,999	£3∙07 x M	£20,196
10,000 to 499,999	£2∙14 x M	£30,697
500,000 or more	£1∙62 x M	£1,069,998”

(4) For paragraph 4 substitute—

“4.   The following Table relates to defined benefits schemes and hybrid schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2026.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£77
12 to 99	£7∙66 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£5∙53 x M	£759
1,000 to 4,999	£4∙30 x M	£5,525
5,000 to 9,999	£3∙27 x M	£21,496
10,000 to 499,999	£2∙28 x M	£32,697
500,000 or more	£1∙73 x M	£1,139,998”

(5) For paragraph 5 substitute—

“5.   The following Table relates to money purchase schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2024.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£47
12 to 99	£4∙60 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£3∙32 x M	£456
1,000 to 4,999	£2∙59 x M	£3,317
5,000 to 9,999	£1∙97 x M	£12,948
10,000 to 499,999	£1∙37 x M	£19,699
500,000 or more	£1∙04 x M	£684,999”

(6) For paragraph 6 substitute—

“6.   The following Table relates to money purchase schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2025.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£50
12 to 99	£4∙90 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£3∙54 x M	£486
1,000 to 4,999	£2∙76 x M	£3,537
5,000 to 9,999	£2∙10 x M	£13,798
10,000 to 499,999	£1∙46 x M	£20,998
500,000 or more	£1∙11 x M	£729,999”

(7) For paragraph 7 substitute—

“7.   The following Table relates to money purchase schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2026.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£53
12 to 99	£5∙22 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£3∙77 x M	£517
1,000 to 4,999	£2∙94 x M	£3,767
5,000 to 9,999	£2∙23 x M	£14,698
10,000 to 499,999	£1∙56 x M	£22,298
500,000 or more	£1∙18 x M	£779,999”

(8) For paragraph 8 substitute—

“8.   The following Table relates to Master Trust schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2024.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£34
12 to 99	£3∙34 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£2∙42 x M	£331
1,000 to 4,999	£1∙89 x M	£2,418
5,000 to 9,999	£1∙43 x M	£9,449
10,000 to 499,999	£1∙00 x M	£14,299
500,000 or more	£0∙76 x M	£499,999”

(9) For paragraph 9 substitute—

“9.   The following Table relates to Master Trust schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2025.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£36
12 to 99	£3∙56 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£2∙57 x M	£353
1,000 to 4,999	£2∙01 x M	£2,568
5,000 to 9,999	£1∙52 x M	£10,048
10,000 to 499,999	£1∙07 x M	£15,199
500,000 or more	£0∙81 x M	£534,999”

(10) For paragraph 10 substitute—

“10.   The following Table relates to Master Trust schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2026.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£39
12 to 99	£3∙79 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£2∙74 x M	£376
1,000 to 4,999	£2∙14 x M	£2,738
5,000 to 9,999	£1∙62 x M	£10,698
10,000 to 499,999	£1∙14 x M	£16,199
500,000 or more	£0∙86 x M	£569,999”

(11) For paragraph 11 substitute—

“11.   The following Table relates to personal pension schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2024.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£15
12 to 99	£1∙33 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£0∙94 x M	£132
1,000 to 4,999	£0∙80 x M	£940
5,000 to 9,999	£0∙53 x M	£4,000
10,000 to 499,999	£0∙40 x M	£5,300
500,000 or more	£0∙30 x M	£200,000”

(12) For paragraph 12 substitute—

“12.   The following Table relates to personal pension schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2025.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£16
12 to 99	£1∙42 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£1∙00 x M	£141
1,000 to 4,999	£0∙85 x M	£999
5,000 to 9,999	£0∙57 x M	£4,250
10,000 to 499,999	£0∙43 x M	£5,700
500,000 or more	£0∙32 x M	£215,000”

(13) For paragraph 13 substitute—

“13.   The following Table relates to personal pension schemes for the financial year beginning with 1st April 2026.

TABLE

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Number of members on the reference day	Amount of levy calculated by reference to number of members (M)	Minimum amount of levy
2 to 11		£17
12 to 99	£1∙51 x M	Not applicable
100 to 999	£1∙06 x M	£150
1,000 to 4,999	£0∙91 x M	£1,059
5,000 to 9,999	£0∙60 x M	£4,550
10,000 to 499,999	£0∙46 x M	£6,000
500,000 or more	£0∙34 x M	£230,000”

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Communities on 6th March 2024

(L.S.)

David Tarr

A senior officer of the Department for Communities

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (General Levy) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 (“the 2005 Regulations”) by substituting paragraphs 2 to 13 of the Schedule to the 2005 Regulations to specify the figures to be used in calculating the rate at which the general levy for occupational pension schemes and personal pension schemes is payable.

The purpose of the general levy is to meet the expenditure mentioned in section 170(1) of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993. Specified occupational and personal pension schemes pay the general levy (see regulation 2 of the 2005 Regulations). The general levy is used to fund the Pensions Regulator and the Pensions Ombudsman and partly to fund the Money and Pensions Service.

The rates specified apply for the financial years beginning with 1st April 2024, 1st April 2025 and 1st April 2026. The effect of the amendments is to increase the general levy rates for both occupational and personal pension schemes by 6∙5 per cent.

(1)

1993 c. 49; section 170 was substituted by Article 161 of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/3213 (N.I. 22)) and amended by paragraph 3 of Schedule 1, paragraph 23 of Schedule 10 and Schedule 11 to the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/255 (N.I. 1)), paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Pensions Regulator Tribunal (Transfer of Functions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2010 (c. 4 (N.I.)), section 12(2) of the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018 (c. 10) and paragraph 6 of the Schedule to S.I. 2019/383

(2)

See Article 8(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 481 and section 1(7) of the Departments Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (c. 5 (N.I.))

(3)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(4)

S.R. 2005 No. 92; the Schedule was added by regulation 2(4) of S.R. 2021 No. 60