Explanatory note

These Regulations are all made under the Social Security Act 1986, and are made before the end of a period of 12 months from the commencement of the relevant provisions of that Act. Consequently, by virtue of section 61(5) of that Act, the provisions of section 61(2) and (3) of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 (as amended by section 86(1) of, and paragraph 94 of Schedule 10 to, the Social Security Act 1986), which require reference to the Occupational Pensions Board of, and a report by the Board on, proposals to make regulations for certain purposes of both Acts, do not apply to them.

The Regulations amend the Personal Pension Schemes (Appropriate Schemes) Regulations 1987 to permit a company which is a holding company or a subsidiary, or a subsidiary of the holding company, of an institution authorised under the Banking Act 1987 (c. 22) to establish appropriate personal pension schemes, and to provide that payments to an appropriate personal pension scheme taking the form of investments in an interest-bearing account need be invested in the scheme itself only if they are payments or rights giving rise to protected rights (regulation 3). The Pension Schemes (Voluntary Contributions Requirements and Voluntary and Compulsory Membership) Regulations 1987 are amended so as to exempt an appropriate personal pension scheme from the provisions of section 12(1)(a) and (b) of the Social Security Act, which prohibits any rule of a pension scheme prohibiting voluntary contributions by a member or limiting the amount of such contributions, in so far as it has rules which provide that if the member is also a member of an occupational pension scheme, and if he has so agreed in writing with the trustees or managers of the personal pension scheme, the only contributions shall be the minimum contributions payable in respect of him by the Secretary of State under section 1 of the Social Security Act 1986 (regulation 2).