The Occupational Pension Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2000
These Regulations amend two sets of regulations related to the Pensions Act 1995 pursuant to section 10 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, replacing section 49(8) of the 1995 Act with new subsections (8) to (13). Like the earlier section 49(8), these subsections are concerned with the regulation of payments by employers to occupational pension schemes. However, whereas previously an employer was liable to a criminal penalty if he breached the requirement that deductions from an employee’s earnings in respect of contributions to an occupational pension scheme be paid to the trustees or managers within a prescribed period, the substituted provisions give the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) the power to impose a civil sanction for breach of that requirement. A person found guilty of the fraudulent evasion of the obligation to make timely payment, will though, remain liable to a criminal penalty.