{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/british-railways-board-winding-up-of-closed-pension-funds-order-1978/article-4",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/british-railways-board-winding-up-of-closed-pension-funds-order-1978/article-4.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1978/1358",
  "legislation_title": "The British Railways Board (Winding up of Closed Pension Funds) Order 1978",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/british-railways-board-winding-up-of-closed-pension-funds-order-1978",
  "path": "article/4",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "4",
  "heading": "Order of application of assets on winding up of pension fund",
  "text": "(1) In the event of the winding up of a pension fund to which this Order applies the persons administering that fund shall, subject to the payment from that fund of all costs, charges and expenses of the winding up, first make provision (so far as the assets of the fund will permit) in one or more of the ways mentioned in paragraph (3) below for the payment, in the order set out in this paragraph, of—\n(a) the pensions and annuities then payable from the fund,\n(b) any guaranteed minimum pensions of members of the fund not then payable,\n(c) the accrued rights of the members of the fund to guaranteed minimum pensions not then payable from the fund but reduced, in the case of any member who then has accrued pension rights in the BR (1974) Fund, by any sum to which he would be entitled from that Fund, under the provisions thereof relating to the preservation of guaranteed minimum pensions, if that Fund were would up on the same day as the fund to which this Order applies,\n(d) in the case of the Amalgamated Fund, the equivalent pension benefits for the purposes of Part III of the National Insurance Act 1965 and the enactments which that Act replaced, in respect of the members of that fund,\n(e) any premiums payable to the Secretary of State under section 42 (premium on termination of contracted-out employment) or 44 (premium on termination of contracted-out scheme) of the Act of 1975 in respect of the members of the fund.\n(2) After provision has been made in accordance with paragraph (1) above for the payments mentioned in that paragraph the balance (if any) of the fund shall be applied in one or more of the ways mentioned in paragraph (3) below in making provision for—\n(a) benefits for or in respect of the members of the fund, determined on the advice of an actuary appointed by the Board, by reference to the accrued proportion of the benefits to which such members or their dependants would have been entitled from the fund if it had not been wound up, but adjusted so as to take account of benefits provided under paragraph (1) above, and\n(b) such further benefits for members and other beneficiaries as the persons administering the fund may determine to be equitable and as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue may approve.\n(3) The ways in which the assets of a fund may be applied for the purposes of this Article are (so far as the law for the time being in force may allow)—\n(a) subject to paragraph (4) below, the payment of transfer values to another pension fund fully approved by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue under the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 or as an exempt approved scheme under the Finance Act 1970, or to a retirement benefits scheme which is approved by the said Commissioners for the purposes of this Article;\n(b) the effecting or purchase from an insurance company or friendly society of a non-transferable and non-commutable policy of insurance or annuity contract;\n(c) the payment to the Secretary of State of any sums payable under section 42 or 44 of the Act of 1975.\n(4) Payment under paragraph (3)(a) of a transfer value in respect of a member of a pension fund to which this Order applies, to another pension fund or to a retirement benefits scheme, shall not be made unless—\n(a) the member in question consents, or the other pension fund or retirement benefits scheme relates to the employment of the member by the same employer, or the case is one where the accrued rights to the requisite benefits of all the members of a fund or of a specified group of such members (of whom the member is one) are being transferred together, and\n(b) except where the Occupational Pensions Board otherwise agree, the other pension fund or retirement benefits scheme, as the case may be, is one in respect of which there is in force under section 31 of the Act of 1975 (contracting-out certificates) a contracting-out certificate which is applicable to the member's employment, and\n(c) except where the member in question has specifically consented to the transfer, the other pension fund or retirement benefits scheme will secure to him rights to benefit which are at least equal in value to the rights which he enjoyed in the fund from which the transfer value payment is being made.\n(5) Any balance remaining in a pension fund to which this Order applies, after provision has been duly made in accordance with the foregoing paragraphs of this Article, shall be paid to the Board for the benefit of their undertaking.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2001/3649",
      "affecting_title": "The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Consequential Amendments and Repeals) Order 2001"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1978/1358/article/4",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T19:29:14.615401+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}