The Financial Assistance Scheme (Provision of Information and Administration of Payments) Regulations 2005

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the FAS Regulations” means the Financial Assistance Scheme Regulations 2005;

“appointed representative” means a person—

(a)

whose name, address and appointment by a beneficiary or potential beneficiary, for the purposes of providing information to the scheme manager under regulation 4, has been notified to the scheme manager in a document signed by the beneficiary or potential beneficiary in question or by his legal representative; and

(b)

whose appointment has been consented to by the scheme manager;

“appropriate person” means, in relation to an occupational pension scheme—

(a)

a trustee or manager of the scheme or, where the scheme has fully wound up, a former trustee or manager of that scheme;

(b)

a professional adviser in relation to the scheme or, where the scheme has fully wound up, a former professional adviser in relation to that scheme;

(c)

in relation to a scheme which has fully wound up, any insurance company which is paying annuities to former members of that scheme; and

(d)

any other person appearing to the scheme manager to be a person who holds, or is likely to hold, information relevant to—

(i)

whether an occupational pension scheme is a qualifying pension scheme; or

(ii)

a qualifying member’s entitlement to an annual payment under the FAS Regulations and the amount of such a payment;

“beneficiary” means a qualifying member or, after his death, his survivor;

“member” includes—

(a)

a person who was entitled to a present payment from a qualifying pension scheme immediately before the scheme began to wind up where—

(i)

that payment was attributable to the pensionable service of a former member of that scheme who has died; and

(ii)

the scheme’s pension liabilities in respect of that person are unlikely to be satisfied in full because the scheme has insufficient assets;

(b)

a person who is entitled to, but not in receipt of, a present payment from a qualifying pension scheme where that payment would have been attributable to the pensionable service of a former member of that scheme who died on or after the day on which the scheme began to wind up; and

(c)

a person who became a pension credit member of the scheme on or after the day on which the scheme began to wind up,

and for the purposes of this definition, the day on which the scheme began to wind up shall be determined in accordance with regulation 3 of the FAS Regulations;

“normal retirement age” means, in relation to a member of an occupational pension scheme, the age specified in the rules of that scheme at which that member will normally retire;

“personal representative” means the executor, original or by representation, or administrator for the time being of a deceased person;

“potential beneficiary” means any person who has been notified to the scheme manager as being a person who may be entitled to a payment under the FAS Regulations but who has not yet been determined to be a beneficiary;

“qualifying member” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 15 of the FAS Regulations;

“qualifying pension scheme” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 9 of the FAS Regulations;

“scheme manager” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 5 of the FAS Regulations;

“survivor” means, in relation to a member of a qualifying pension scheme who has died—

(a)

the member’s widow or widower; or

(b)

the member’s surviving civil partner,

but shall not include a person who comes within paragraph (a) or (b) but who is regarded as a qualifying member by virtue of regulation 15(5) of the FAS Regulations,

and other expressions have the meaning given to them in the Pensions Act 2004 or, as the case may be, in the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 2005(1).

(2) For the purposes of the definition of “appropriate person” in paragraph (1), “insurance company” means—

(a) a person who has permission under Part 4 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000(2) to effect or carry out contracts of long-term insurance; or

(b) an EEA firm of the kind mentioned in paragraph 5(d) of Schedule 3 to that Act (certain direct insurance undertakings) which has permission under paragraph 15 of that Schedule (as a result of qualifying for authorisation under paragraph 12 of that Schedule) to effect or carry out contracts of long-term insurance,

and in this paragraph, “contracts of long-term insurance” means contracts which fall within Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001(3).

(3) Paragraph (2) shall be read with—

(a) section 22 of Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (regulated activities);

(b) any relevant order under that section; and

(c) Schedule 2 to that Act.

(1)

S.I.2005/255 (N.I.1).

(2)

2000 c. 8.

(3)

S.I.2001/544.