Part IIIE+W+S Certification of Pension Schemes and Effects on Members’ State Scheme Rights and Duties

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C2Pt. III: power to modify conferred (1.6.1996 for specified purposes, 6.4.1997 in so far as not already in force) by Pensions Act 1995 (c. 26), ss. 149(1), 180(1); S.I. 1996/778, art. 2(6); S.I. 1997/664, art. 2(3), Sch. Pt. 2

Chapter IE+W+S Certification

Alteration of scheme rules after certificationE+W+S

38 Alteration of rules of appropriate schemes.E+W+S

(1)Where an appropriate scheme certificate has been issued, no alteration of the rules of the relevant scheme shall be made so as—

(a)to affect any of the matters dealt with in sections 26 to 33; or

(b)to cause the scheme to take a different permitted form from that previously taken,

F1...

F1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2)Subsection (1) does not apply to an alteration of a prescribed description.

(3)Subject to subsection (4), any alteration to which subsection (1) applies shall be voidF2....

(4)[F3Regulations made by virtue of subsection (2) may] operate so as to validate with retrospective effect any alteration of the rules which would otherwise be void under this section.

(5)This section shall continue in force in relation to a scheme after it has ceased to be an appropriate scheme so long as any person has protected rights under the scheme.

(6)The reference in subsection (1)(b) to a permitted form is to one of the following forms, namely—

(a)an arrangement for the issue of insurance policies or annuity contracts;

(b)a unit trust scheme of a kind mentioned in Part I of Schedule 1 to the M1Personal Pension Schemes (Appropriate Schemes) Regulations 1988 which [F4is an authorised unit trust scheme];

(c)an arrangement for the investment of contributions in an interest-bearing account (including shares in or deposits with a building society (within the meaning of the M2Building Societies Act 1986));

[F5(d)an open-ended investment company within the meaning of the Open-Ended Investment Companies Regulations 2001.]

[F6(6A)“Authorised unit trust scheme” has the meaning given in Part 17 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and includes any scheme which is, as a result of an order made under section 426 of that Act making transitional provisions, treated as falling within that meaning.]

F7(7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .