The Occupational Pension Schemes (Preservation of Benefit) Regulations 1991

Transfer of member’s accrued rights without consent

12.—(1) For the purposes of paragraph 9(3) of Schedule 16, a scheme may provide for the member’s accrued rights to be transferred to another occupational pension scheme (as described in paragraph 9(2)(a) of Schedule 16) without the member’s consent where—

(a) the scheme is being wound up and the transfer is to another scheme that applies to employment with the same employer; or

(b) the conditions set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this regulation are satisfied.

(2) The condition set out in this paragraph is that the rights of a group of members are being transferred from the transferring scheme to the receiving scheme and—

(a) the transferring scheme and the receiving scheme apply to employment with the same employer, or

(b) the transferring scheme and the receiving scheme apply to employment with different employers and the transfer is a consequence of a financial transaction between the employers, or

(c) the transferring scheme and the receiving scheme apply to employment with different employers and the employers are treated as connected for the purposes of section 51A of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975(1) (refusal and cancellation of contracting-out certificates).

(3) The condition set out in this paragraph is that an actuary certifies to the trustees or managers of the transferring scheme that the transfer credits to be acquired for the members under the receiving scheme are at least equal in value to the rights to be transferred.

(4) When calculating the value of any rights for the purposes of this regulation, the actuary must comply with the requirements of sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), namely—

(a) the actuary must value all benefits that have accrued to or in respect of the members under the applicable rules and, for members in service at the date of transfer, the value of those benefits must be based on pensionable service in the transferring scheme up to that date and projected final pensionable earnings; and

(b) where it is the established custom for additional benefits to be awarded from the transferring scheme at the discretion of the trustees or the employer, the actuary must take into account the value of any such additional benefits as will accrue to the members in question if the custom continues unaltered.

(5) In this regulation—

“actuary” means a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries, or a person with other actuarial qualifications who is approved by the Secretary of State, at the request of the trustees or managers of the scheme, as being a proper person to act for the purposes of this regulation in connection with the scheme; and

“the applicable rules” means the same as in paragraph 12(2) of Schedule 1A to the Social Security Pensions Act 1975.

(1)

1975 c. 60. See section 51A(12) and regulation 42 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Contracting-out) Regulations 1984 (S.I. 1984/380). Section 51A was inserted by section 40 of the Social Security and Housing Benefits Act 1982 (c. 24).