The Occupational Pension Schemes(Winding Up) Regulations 1996

Disapplication of s. 38 E+W+S

10.—(1) Section 38 does not apply—

(a) to any scheme in relation to which no relevant employer debt event has occurred;

(b) to a scheme in respect of which any Minister of the Crown has given a guarantee or made any other arrangements for the purpose of securing that the assets of the scheme are sufficient to meet its liabilities;

(c) to a scheme which provides relevant benefits, but is neither an approved scheme nor a relevant statutory scheme;

F1 (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(e) to a scheme with less than two members;

(f) to a small self-administered scheme which is an approved scheme;

(g) to a scheme the only benefits provided by which (other than money purchase benefits) are death benefits; or

(h) to a relevant lump sum retirement benefits scheme.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a relevant employer debt event has only occurred in relation to a scheme if (apart from section 38 or any other power to defer winding up the scheme) the rules of the scheme require the scheme to be wound up as a result of a [F2 relevant event] having occurred in relation to any person who immediately before the event occurred was an employer in relation to the scheme; and for the purposes of this paragraph—

(a) [F2 subsection (6A) of section 75 (definition of relevant events)] applies as it applies for the purposes of section 75 (disregarding any modifications of that section); and

(b) in the case of a scheme which has no active members, the reference to an employer is to the person who was the employer immediately before the occurrence of the event after which the scheme ceased to have any active members.

(3) In this regulation—

“approved scheme" means a scheme which is approved or was formerly approved under section 590 or 591 of the Taxes Act or in respect of which an application for such approval has been duly made which has not been determined;

“lump sum benefits" does not include benefits paid by way of commuted retirement pension;

“relevant benefits" has the meaning given in section 612(1) of the Taxes Act;

“relevant lump sum retirement benefits scheme" means an approved scheme—

(a) which has been categorised by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for the purposes of its approval as a centralised scheme for non-associated employers;

(b) which [F3 was not contracted-out at any time before the second abolition date]; and

(c) under the provisions of which the only benefits which may be provided on or after retirement (other than money purchase benefits derived from the payment of additional contributions by any person) are lump sum benefits which are not calculated by reference to any member’s salary;

“relevant statutory scheme" has the meaning given in section 611A of the Taxes Act M1 ;

“section 615(6) scheme" means a scheme with such a superannuation fund as is mentioned in section 615(6) of the Taxes Act;

“small self-administered scheme" has the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the Retirement Benefits Schemes (Restriction on Discretion to Approve) (Small Self-administered Schemes) Regulations 1991 M2 ;

“the Taxes Act" means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 M3 .

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 10(1)(d) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/192), regs. 1, 11(2); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in reg. 10(2) substituted (6.4.2005) by Occupational Pension Schemes (Employer Debt) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/678), reg. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 2 (with reg. 1(3))

F3 Words in reg. 10(3)(b) substituted (6.4.2016) by The Pensions Act 2014 (Abolition of Contracting-out for Salary Related Pension Schemes) (Consequential Amendments and Savings) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/200), arts. 1(2), 9(3)

Marginal Citations

M1 Section 611A was inserted by section 75 of and paragraph 15 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26).

M2 S.I. 1991/1614.

M3 1988 c. 1.