Finance Act 2007

Transitional provision: enhanced protection

18 In paragraph 14 (relevant contributions), after sub-paragraph (3) insert—

“(3A) A variation of the terms of a policy made in order to comply with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 or Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (or any regulations amending or replacing them) is to be ignored for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3).

(3B) Where a policy of insurance on the life of the individual issued, or issued in respect of insurances made, before 6th April 2006 is surrendered and a new one is taken out—

(a) as part of a retirement-benefit activities compliance exercise, or

(b) as part of an age-equality compliance exercise.

the new policy is to be treated for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) as if it were the same as the old.

(3C) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3B)(a) a policy is surrendered, and a new policy of life insurance is taken out, as part of a retirement-benefit activities compliance exercise if—

(a) the surrender of the old policy and the taking out of the new policy constitute or form part of a transaction the purpose of which is to secure that the activities of the pension scheme under which the arrangement is made are limited to retirement-benefit activities within the meaning of section 255 of the Pensions Act 2004 or Article 232 of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 2005, and

(b) the rights under the old policy and the new policy are not significantly different.

(3D) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3B)(b) a policy is surrendered, and a new policy of life insurance is taken out, as part of an age-equality compliance exercise if—

(a) the old policy is surrendered, and the new policy is taken out, in order to comply with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 or Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (or any regulations amending or replacing them), and

(b) any significant difference between the rights under the old policy and the rights under the new policy is attributable to the need to comply with those Regulations (or any regulations amending or replacing them).”