Explanatory note

These Regulations enable certain schemes which provide both salary related and money purchase benefits to be contracted-out under Part III of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 (c. 49) (“the Pension Schemes Act”) after 6th April 1997.

Regulation 1 provides for the citation, commencement and interpretation of the Regulations. In particular it provides for a scheme to which Article 146 of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (“the Order”) applies, being a scheme which provides both such pensions as would satisfy section 5(2) of the Pension Schemes Act and such pensions as would satisfy section 5(3) of that Act (a “relevant scheme”), to be treated as if those pensions were provided by separate parts of the scheme.

Regulation 2 provides for a relevant scheme to be treated, for the purposes of Part III of the Pension Schemes Act, as if the separate parts of the scheme were separate schemes. It also modifies Part III of that Act and provides for the separate parts of a relevant scheme to be treated as though they were separate schemes for the purposes of any regulations made under that Part.

Regulation 3 modifies the Occupational Pensions Schemes (Contracting-out) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 in relation to the separate parts of a relevant scheme.

Regulation 4 modifies the Protected Rights (Transfer Payment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 and the Contracting-out (Transfer and Transfer Payment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 by providing for further requirements in a case where a transfer payment to which those Regulations apply is between the separate parts of a relevant scheme.

Regulation 5 makes transitional provision relating to the variation or issue of a contracting-out certificate in respect of a relevant scheme which has previously been a money purchase scheme contracted-out under section 5(3) of the Pension Schemes Act.

The Pensions (1995 Order) (Commencement No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 91 (C. 4)) provides for the coming into operation of Article 166, in so far as it was not already in operation, on 6th April 1996 and Article 146, for the purpose only of authorising the making of regulations, on 1st June 1996.