Exemptions - general

17.—(1) Part 3 of the 2004 Act does not apply to—

(a)a scheme which—

(i)is established by or under an enactment (including a local Act), and

(ii)is guaranteed by a public authority;

(b)a pay-as-you-go scheme;

(c)a scheme which is made under section 2 of the Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1987 M1 (power to provide for pensions for Members of the House of Commons etc.);

[F1(ca) a scheme, provision for which is made by virtue of section 81(3) of the Scotland Act 1998 (remuneration of members of the Parliament and Executive);]

[F2(d)a scheme which is treated as such by virtue of paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 2 to these Regulations and applies to members in employment outside the United Kingdom;]

(e)a scheme which—

(i)provides relevant benefits;

(ii)is neither a relevant statutory scheme nor a tax approved scheme, or, from 6th April 2006, is not a tax registered scheme, and

(iii)has fewer than 100 members;

(f)a section 615(6) scheme which has fewer than 100 members;

(g)a scheme which has fewer than two members;

(h)[F3a scheme with] fewer than 12 members, where all the members are trustees of the scheme and either—

(i)the provisions of the scheme provide that [F4any decision made by the trustees is] made by the unanimous agreement of the trustees who are members of the scheme, or

(ii)the scheme has a trustee [F5who is independent] in relation to the scheme for the purposes of section 23 of the 1995 Act M2 (power to appoint independent trustees) and is registered in the register maintained by the Authority in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4) of that section;

(i)[F6a scheme with] fewer than 12 members, [F7where a company is the sole trustee] of the scheme and all the members of the scheme are directors of the company and either—

(i)the provisions of the scheme provide that any decision made by the company in its capacity as trustee [F8is made by the unanimous agreement] of the directors who are members of the scheme, or

(ii)[F9one of the directors of the company] is independent in relation to the scheme for the purposes of section 23 of the 1995 Act and is registered in the register maintained by the Authority in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4) of that section;

(j)a scheme under which the only benefits provided for (other than money purchase benefits) are death benefits, if the death benefits are secured by insurance policies or annuity contracts;

(k)a scheme which is the subject of a scheme failure notice under section 122 or 130 of the 2004 Act;

(l)[F10subject to paragraph (1A) and regulation 18], a scheme[F11or a section of a scheme] which is being wound up, F12...

(m)the Chatsworth Settlement Estate Pension Scheme [F13, or]

[F14(n)a scheme or a section of a scheme which is a collective money purchase scheme for the purposes of Part 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 2021.]

[F15(1A) Section 231A of the 2004 Act applies to a scheme where—

(a)a recovery plan has been prepared under section 226 of the 2004 Act, and

(b)the scheme begins to wind up during the recovery period.]

(2) In paragraph (1)—

“enactment” includes an enactment comprised in, or in an instrument under, an Act of the Scottish Parliament;

“pay-as-you-go scheme” means an occupational pension scheme under which there is no requirement for assets to be set aside in advance for the purpose of providing benefits under the scheme (disregarding any requirements relating to additional voluntary contributions);

“public authority” means—

(a)

a Minister of the Crown (within the meaning of the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975) M3;

(b)

a government department (including any body or authority exercising statutory functions on behalf of the Crown);

(c)

the Scottish Ministers;

(d)

the National Assembly for Wales, or

(e)

a local authority;

“relevant benefits” has the meaning given in section 612(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 M4 (interpretation) or, from 6th April 2006, section 393B of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 M5 (relevant benefits);

“relevant statutory scheme” has the meaning given in section 611A(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 M6 (definition of relevant statutory scheme);

“section 615(6) scheme” means a scheme with such a superannuation fund as is mentioned in section 615(6) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 M7 (funds for the provision of benefits in respect of employment outside the United Kingdom);

[F16“a section of a scheme” means a section of a multi-employer scheme where a specified part or proportion of the assets of the scheme is attributable to that section and cannot be used for the purposes of any other section of the scheme;]

“a tax approved scheme” means a scheme which is approved or was formerly approved under section 590 or 591 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 M8 (approval of retirement benefit schemes) or in respect of which an application for such approval has been duly made but has not been determined;

“a tax registered scheme” means a scheme which is, or is treated as, registered under Chapter 2 of Part 4 of the Finance Act 2004 (registration of pension schemes).

[F17(2A) In paragraph (1A) “recovery period” means the period specified in the scheme’s recovery plan in accordance with section 226(2)(b) of the 2004 Act;]

(3) In paragraph (2), “local authority” means—

(a)in relation to England, a county council, a district council, a London borough council, the Greater London Authority, the Common Council of the City of London in its capacity as a local authority or the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

(b)in relation to Wales, a county council or county borough council;

(c)in relation to Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 M9 (constitution of councils);

(d)an administering authority as defined in Schedule 1 to the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997 M10.

(4) Where Part 3 of the 2004 Act ceases to apply to a scheme to which it previously applied, because the scheme satisfies any of the criteria for exemption in paragraph (1), that does not affect any rights or obligations arising before Part 3 ceased to apply.

Textual Amendments

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

Marginal Citations

M2Section 23 was substituted by the Pensions Act 2004, section 36(3).

M41988 c. 1; the definition of “relevant benefits” was amended by paragraph 10(1) of Schedule 10 to the Finance Act 1999 (c. 16). Section 612(1) is repealed by Part 3 of Schedule 42 to the Finance Act 2004 (c. 12) with effect from 6th April 2006.

M52003 c. 1; section 393B is inserted by section 249(3) of the Finance Act 2004 with effect from 6th April 2006..

M6Section 611A was inserted by paragraph 15 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26) and amended by paragraph 5 of Schedule 5 to the Finance Act 1999. The section is repealed by Part 3 of Schedule 42 to the Finance Act 2004 with effect from 6th April 2006.

M7Section 615(6) was amended by paragraph 11 of Schedule 10 to the Finance Act 1999.

M8Section 590 is amended by paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 1989.