{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/pension-sharing-consequential-and-miscellaneous-amendments-regulations-northern-ireland-2000/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/pension-sharing-consequential-and-miscellaneous-amendments-regulations-northern-ireland-2000/note.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/2000/335",
  "legislation_title": "The Pension Sharing (Consequential and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/pension-sharing-consequential-and-miscellaneous-amendments-regulations-northern-ireland-2000",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations.)\nThese Regulations make amendments consequential upon the pension sharing provisions in the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (“the 1999 Order”) and make miscellaneous amendments to regulations relating to the treatment of pensions on divorce or nullity of marriage.\nRegulation 2 amends the Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 to provide for the disclosure of information to members with pension credit rights.\nRegulation 3 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Minimum Funding Requirement and Actuarial Valuations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 to ensure that the provisions in respect of the determination and valuation of assets and liabilities of an occupational pension scheme for the purposes of the Minimum Funding Requirement also relate to members who have pension credit rights or who are in receipt of pension credit benefit.\nRegulation 4 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Winding Up) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 to include safeguarded rights and other pension credit rights in the list of statutory priorities to be discharged where an occupational pension scheme winds up. It also amends regulation 8 of those regulations to stipulate requirements for recipient pension arrangements where a transfer notice to discharge a pension credit has been served on the transferring scheme.\nRegulation 5 amends the Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 to provide for disclosure of information to members with pension credit rights and provides for the inclusion of a statement in the scheme’s annual report if cash equivalents of pension credits are calculated other than by a prescribed method.\nRegulation 6 amends the definition of “member” in the Register of Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 to include a person with pension credit rights.\nRegulation 7 amends the definition of “member” in the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Levy) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 to include a person with pension credit rights.\nRegulation 8 amends the Pensions on Divorce etc. (Provision of Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. In particular, regulation 6 of those regulations is amended to clarify the obligations of the person responsible for a pension arrangement where the person entitled to the pension credit dies before liability in respect of that credit is discharged.\nRegulation 9 amends the Pensions on Divorce etc. (Charging) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. In particular, regulation 2(8) of those Regulations is amended in order to clarify when a person responsible for a pension arrangement may charge for provision of information.\nRegulation 10 amends the Pension Sharing (Valuation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 in order to clarify that a cash equivalent calculated for the purposes of those Regulations is calculated on the same basis as a cash equivalent transfer value of pension rights for a transfer under normal circumstances.\nRegulation 11 amends the Pension Sharing (Implementation and Discharge of Liability) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. In particular, a new regulation 6 is substituted, which clarifies how a person responsible for a pension arrangement is to deal with a pension credit where the person entitled to the pension credit dies before the liability in respect of that credit is discharged. It further provides for cash equivalents of pension rights calculated for the purposes of sharing a pension on divorce to be calculated on the same basis as those for a transfer under normal circumstances.\nRegulation 12 amends the Pension Sharing (Pension Credit Benefit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. In particular, regulation 24 of those Regulations is amended in order to clarify that a cash equivalent calculated for the purposes of sharing a pension on divorce shall be calculated on the same basis as a cash equivalent of pension rights calculated for a transfer under normal circumstances. It also amends regulation 10 of those Regulations to ensure that the destination for a transfer of pension credit rights which include safeguarded rights shall be either a salary-related contracted-out scheme or a money-purchase contracted out scheme.\nRegulation 13 amends the Pension Sharing (Safeguarded Rights) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 to make further provisions about how a person responsible for a pension arrangement is to deal with a pension credit where the person entitled to the pension credit dies before liability for the credit is discharged.\nThese Regulations also make minor amendments for the purposes of interpretation.\nAs these Regulations, in so far as they are made under Part II of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (“the 1995 Order”) and Part V of the 1999 Order, make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Security in relation to Great Britain, the requirement for consultation does not apply by virtue of Article 117(2)(e) of the 1995 Order and Article 73(9) of the 1999 Order.\nThe Welfare Reform and Pensions (1999 Order) (Commencement No. 3) Order (Northern Ireland) 2000 (S.R. 2000 No. 133 (C. 5)) provides for the coming into operation of Articles 21(1)(a) and (d), 27(1) and (2), 32(2)(b), 42(1) of, and Schedule 5 to, the 1999 Order, some of the enabling provisions under which these Regulations are made, in so far as they are not already in operation, on 1st December 2000.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2000/335/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-31T10:32:32.683848+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."
}