Regulation 13 Change of Employer

(1)

This regulation shall apply for the benefit of any protected employee, who prior to the total winding up of the North Scheme or the South Scheme–

(a)

is a participant in the Scheme;

(b)

changes his employer otherwise than in circumstances specified in paragraph (5); and

(c)

whose new employer is a participant in the Scheme or is wholly owned by one or more companies which or each of which is such a participant.

(2)

A new employer to whom this regulation applies who is not a participant in the North Scheme or, as the case may be, the South Scheme shall forthwith make application to join that Scheme and shall carry out the procedural requirements of the Scheme to enable such an application to be accepted and–

(a)

any parent company of the employer; and

(b)

any two or more successor companies which together control the employer;

which, in either case, participates or participate in the Scheme shall use its or their best endeavours to procure that such an application shall be accepted.

(3)

If the application under paragraph (2) is accepted, and the new employer forms a pension group or joins an existing pension group or joins with any other employers to form a pension group in the Scheme, he shall provide or procure the provision of future pension rights to the protected employee which–

(a)

if the pension group already contains protected employees, are the same as the future pension rights of those employees; or

(b)

if the pension group contains no protected employees, are no worse than the transfer date rights of the Scheme in respect of which the new employer’s application is accepted.

(4)

If the new employer is already a participant in the North Scheme or the South Scheme, he shall provide or procure the provision of future pension rights which would have satisfied the requirements of paragraph (3) if that paragraph had applied to him.

(5)

This regulation shall not apply in respect of any change of employment which is made other than at the requirement of the employer, to a new employer which is not a company in the same company group as the former employer.