Explanatory note

These Regulations make various amendments to seven Statutory Instruments about occupational and personal pensions.

Regulation 2 amends the Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1110) to remove an obsolete reference to the Occupational Pensions Advisory Service, which no longer exists under that name.

The Board for Actuarial Standards is withdrawing Guidance Note 16 (“GN16”). When certain persons’ rights to a pension are transferred from one pension scheme to another, an actuary is required to certify that the value of certain benefits remains broadly the same after the transfer. GN16 includes a certificate for actuaries to complete when making that certification. As a result of the withdrawal of GN16, the following provisions of these Regulations make several amendments which insert that certificate into legislation:

• regulation 3 and Schedule 1 amend the Occupational Pension Schemes (Preservation of Benefit) Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/167),

• regulation 4 and Schedule 2 amend the Protected Rights (Transfer Payment) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1461), and

• regulation 6 and Schedule 3 amend the Pension Sharing (Pension Credit Benefit) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/1054).

Regulation 5 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1715) to make clear that an occupational pension scheme does not have to appoint an auditor where the scheme is both set up under legislation and is guaranteed by a public authority.

Regulation 7 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Consultation by Employers and Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/349) to alter the circumstances in which an employer has to consult scheme members about a change to the scheme. An employer has to consult if it employs all the members affected by the change. Such an employer does not have to inform any other employers in the scheme that it is making the change.

Regulation 8 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Fraud Compensation Levy) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/558) to increase the maximum fraud compensation levy that may be raised in any one financial year from 23 pence per member to 75 pence per member. The fraud compensation levy is paid by occupational pension schemes and is used to fund the Fraud Compensation Fund, which makes payments to certain schemes that have lost money due to fraud.

A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has only a negligible impact on the private sector and civil society organisations and it includes an amendment of an existing statutory levy regime.