Commentary on Sections Part 3 – General Changes to Pensions Legislation about Pension Schemes Pensions Act 2004
150.Paragraphs 23 to 38 of Schedule 2 make amendments to the Pensions Act 2004. The majority of the amendments made to the Pensions Act 2004 by paragraphs 26 to 38 of Schedule 2 take out a number of references to money purchase schemes and update provisions in the 2004 Act to take account of the new pension scheme categories and the introduction of collective benefits. In most cases, the effect of the provisions is to extend exemption of the provision from schemes offering only money purchase benefits to schemes in which all benefits are collective or a combination of collective and money purchase. However, in paragraph 26 of Schedule 2 there is a further qualification – with the effect that the provision (which relates to freezing orders) does apply to schemes with only money purchase benefits which include a third party promise.
151.Paragraphs 24, 30, 33 and 36 of Schedule 2 also amend the definition of pensions legislation in sections 13, 90, 254 and 291 of the Pensions Act 2004 to include provisions in and made under the Pension Schemes Act 2015, ensuring that the Regulator can take action where there are breaches of the 2015 Act and regulations made under it and to allow for modification of the provisions where schemes receive contributions from a European employer.
152.Section 126 of the Pensions Act 2004 defines those occupational pension schemes which are eligible to be taken over by the Board of the Pension Protection Fund. Paragraph 31 of Schedule 2 amends the Pensions Act 2004 to include reference to the new categories of occupational pension scheme in Part 1 of the 2015 Act, (defined benefits, shared risk and defined contributions schemes) as eligible for the Pension Protection Fund. This paragraph also has the effect that occupational pension schemes that offer only money purchase and collective benefits, and occupational pension schemes that offer only collective benefits are not eligible for the Pension Protection Fund.
153.Section 318 of the Pensions Act 2004 defines terms used throughout that Act. Paragraph 38 of Schedule 2 to the Pension Schemes Act 2015 inserts the new scheme category and collective benefit definitions introduced by the 2015 Act and omits the definition of ‘money purchase scheme’. It also updates the list of overriding provisions contained in the definition of “scheme rules” in the Pensions Act 2004, to include regulations made under Part 2 of the 2015 Act, and under Schedule 17 and 18 to the Pensions Act 2014. This means that where these regulations override conflicting provision in the scheme rules the regulations are treated as part of the scheme rules for the purposes of the 2004 Act.