Regulation 15 Exemptions

England, Wales and Scotland

(1)

These Regulations do not apply to—

(a)

a scheme which—

(i)

is established by or under an enactment (including a local Act), and

(ii)

is guaranteed by a public authority;

(b)

a pay-as-you-go scheme;

(c)

a scheme which is made under section 2 of the Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1987 M1 (power to provide for pensions for Members of the House of Commons etc.);

F1(ca)

a scheme, provision for which is made by virtue of section 81(3) of the Scotland Act 1998 (remuneration of members of the Parliament and Executive);

(d)

a scheme which is treated as such by virtue of paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 2 to the Scheme Funding Regulations (modifications of the 2004 Act and the Scheme Funding Regulations) and—

F2(i)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(ii)

in the cases described in F3paragraphs 4(2) and (3) and 5(2)(a) and (b) of that Schedule, applies to members in employment outside the United Kingdom;

(e)

a scheme which—

(i)

provides relevant benefits,

(ii)

is neither a relevant statutory scheme nor a tax approved scheme, nor, from 6th April 2006, a tax registered scheme, and

(iii)

has fewer than 100 members;

(f)

a section 615(6) scheme which has fewer than 100 members;

(g)

a scheme which has fewer than two members;

(h)

F4a scheme with fewer than 12 members, where all the members are trustees of the scheme and either—

(i)

the provisions of the scheme provide that F5any decision made by the trustees is made by the unanimous agreement of the trustees who are members of the scheme, or

(ii)

the scheme has a trustee F6who is independent in relation to the scheme for the purposes of section 23 of the 1995 Act M2 (power to appoint independent trustees) and is registered in the register maintained by the Regulator in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4) of that section;

(i)

F7a scheme with fewer than 12 members, F8where a company is the sole trustee of the scheme and all the members of the scheme are directors of the company and either—

(i)

the provisions of the scheme provide that any decision made by the company in its capacity as trustee F9is made by the unanimous agreement of the directors who are members of the scheme, or

(ii)

F10one of the directors of the company is independent in relation to the scheme for the purposes of section 23 of the 1995 Act and is registered in the register maintained by the Regulator in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4) of that section;

(j)

a scheme which is subject to the regulatory own funds requirement merely because it provides for the payment of death benefits under the scheme, but only if the death benefits are secured by insurance policies or annuity contracts;

(k)

a scheme which is the subject of a scheme failure notice under section 122 (insolvency practitioner's duty to issue notices confirming status of scheme) or 130 (Board's duty where application or notification received under section 129) of the 2004 Act; or

(l)

subject to regulation 16, a scheme which is being wound up.

F11(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)

In this regulation—

“enactment” includes an enactment comprised in, or in an instrument under, an Act of the Scottish Parliament;
“pay-as-you-go scheme” means an occupational pension scheme under which there is no requirement for assets to be set aside in advance for the purpose of providing benefits under the scheme (disregarding any requirements relating to additional voluntary contributions);
“public authority” means—
1. (a)
  a Minister of the Crown (within the meaning of the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975 M3);
2. (b)
  a government department (including any body or authority exercising statutory functions on behalf of the Crown);
3. (c)
  the Scottish Ministers;
4. (d)
  the National Assembly for Wales; or
5. (e)
  a local authority;
“relevant benefits” has the meaning given in section 612(1) of the Taxes Act M4 (interpretative provisions and regulations for the purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 14 of the Taxes Act) or, from 6th April 2006, section 393B of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 M5 (relevant benefits);
“relevant statutory scheme” has the meaning given in section 611A(1) of the Taxes Act M6 (definition of relevant statutory scheme);
“section 615(6) scheme” means a scheme with such a superannuation fund as is mentioned in section 615(6) of the Taxes Act (funds for the provision of benefits in respect of employment outside the United Kingdom);
F12...
“tax approved scheme” means a scheme which is approved or was formerly approved under section 590 or 591 of the Taxes Act M7 (approval of retirement benefit schemes) or in respect of which an application for such approval has been duly made but has not been determined;
“tax registered scheme” means a scheme which from 6th April 2006 is, or is treated as, registered under Chapter 2 of Part 4 of the Finance Act 2004 (registration of pension schemes).

(4)

In paragraph (3), “local authority” means—

(a)

in relation to England, a county council, a district council, a London borough council, the Greater London Authority, the Common Council of the City of London in its capacity as a local authority, or the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

(b)

in relation to Wales, a county council or county borough council;

(c)

in relation to Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 M8 (constitution of councils);

(d)

an administering authority as defined in Schedule 1 to the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997 M9 (interpretation).

(5)

Where these Regulations cease to apply to a scheme to which they previously applied, because the scheme is of a kind referred to in paragraph (1), that does not affect any rights or obligations arising before these Regulations ceased to apply.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1: Reg. 15(1)(ca) inserted (1.9.2009) by Occupational Pension Schemes (Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/1906), reg. 1, Sch. para. 8
F2: Reg. 15(1)(d)(i) 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, 30(3)(a)(i); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
F3: Words in reg. 15(1)(d)(ii) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/192), regs. 1, 30(3)(a)(ii); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
F4: Words in reg. 15(1)(h) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(a)(i)
F5: Words in reg. 15(1)(h)(i) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(a)(ii)
F6: Words in reg. 15(1)(h)(ii) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(a)(iii)
F7: Words in reg. 15(1)(i) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(b)(i)
F8: Words in reg. 15(1)(i) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(b)(ii)
F9: Words in reg. 15(1)(i)(i) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(b)(iii)
F10: Words in reg. 15(1)(i)(ii) substituted (6.4.2007) by Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/814), regs. 1, 17(4)(b)(iv)
F11: Reg. 15(2) 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, 30(3)(b); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
F12: Words in reg. 15(3) 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, 30(3)(c); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

Marginal citations

M1: 1987 c. 45.
M2: Section 23 was substituted by section 36(3) of the Pensions Act 2004.
M3: 1975 c. 26.
M4: Section 612(1) is repealed from 6th April 2006 by section 326(1) of the Finance Act 2004 (c. 12).
M5: 2003 c. 1. Section 393B is inserted by section 249(3) of the Finance Act 2004.
M6: 1988 c. 1. Section 611A was inserted by paragraph 15 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26) and was amended by paragraph 5 of Schedule 5 to the Finance Act 1999 (c. 16). Section 611A is to be repealed by Part 3 of Schedule 42 to the Finance Act 2004 from 6th April 2006.
M7: Section 590 was amended by paragraph 18 of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Finance Act 1988 (c. 39); paragraphs 3 and 18 of Schedule 6, and Part 4 of Schedule 17, to the Finance Act 1989; sections 34 and 36(2) of, and Part 5 of Schedule 19 to, the Finance Act 1991 (c. 31); paragraph 2 of Schedule 10 to the Finance Act 1999 and S.I. 2005/723. Section 591 was amended by paragraph 6 of Schedule 13 to the Finance Act 1988; section 107 of, and Part 5 of Schedule 26 to, the Finance Act 1994 (c. 9); sections 59(2) and 60(1) of the Finance Act 1995 (c. 4) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 10 to the Finance Act 1999. Sections 590 and 591 are to be repealed by Part 3 of Schedule 42 to the Finance Act 2004 with effect from 6th April 2006.
M8: 1994 c. 39.
M9: S.I. 1997/1612