Occupational Pension Schemes (Member-nominated Trustees and Directors) Regulations 1996
1996 No. 1216
PENSIONS
The Occupational Pension Schemes (Member-nominated Trustees and Directors) Regulations 1996
Made 2nd May 1996
Laid before Parliament 10th May 1996
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1(2)
The Secretary of State for Social Security, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 17(1)(c), (4)(b), 18(1), 19(1)(c), 19(4), 20(1)(b) and (4), 21(4)(a) and (b), (5), (6), (7) and (8)(b), 49(2)(b) and (3), 68(2)(e), 118(1)(a) and (b), 124(1), 125(3) and (4)(c) and 174(2) and (3) of the Pensions Act 19951and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, by this instrument, which is made before the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the coming into force of the provisions of Part I of that Act by virtue of which it is made2, hereby makes the following regulations:—
PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Preliminary
Citation and commencement
1.—(1) These regulations may be cited as the Occupational Pension Schemes (Member-nominated Trustees and Directors) Regulations 1996.
(2) This regulation and regulations 2, 11, 22 and 24 and paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 shall come into force on 6th October 1996 and the remaining provisions of these regulations shall come into force on 6th April 1997.
General interpretation
2.—(1) Unless the context otherwise requires, in these regulations—
“alternative arrangements”—
(a) in relation to a scheme to which section 16 applies (or would apply apart from the approval of such arrangements), means arrangements proposed by the employer, as mentioned in section 17(1), as an alternative to those which the trustees of the scheme are otherwise required by section 16 to make for persons selected by members of the scheme to be trustees of the scheme (whether those arrangements are existing or new), and
(b) in relation to a company to which section 18 applies (or would apply apart from the approval of such arrangements), means arrangements proposed by the employer, as mentioned in section 19(1), as an alternative to those which the company is otherwise required by section 18 to make for persons selected by members of the scheme to be its directors (whether those arrangements are existing or new);
“appropriate corresponding scheme” means an approved scheme—
(a) which is treated by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for the purposes of its approval as a centralised scheme for associated employers, and
(b) none of the employers in relation to which is associated with another of those employers,
and for the purposes of this definition—
(i) the fact that some employers in relation to a scheme are associated by virtue of controlling or being controlled by other employers shall be disregarded if the total number of active members of the scheme who are in pensionable service under the scheme with employers who are associated by virtue of being controlled by other employers is less than 1 per cent. of the total number of active members the scheme comprises, and
(ii) “associated” and “control” are to be construed in accordance with paragraph 28(3) and (4) of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 19893(centralised schemes);
“appropriate rules” has the meaning given in section 20;
“approval period” in relation to the approval of alternative arrangements—
(a) in the case of arrangements proposed under section 17(1), has the meaning given in regulation 9(3), and
(b) in the case of arrangements proposed under section 19(1), has the meaning given in regulation 15(3);
“approved scheme” means a scheme which is approved or was formerly approved under section 590 or 591 of the Taxes Act or in respect of which an application for such approval has been duly made which has not been determined; and, for the purposes of this definition, if only part of a scheme is an approved scheme the whole scheme shall be treated as if it were an approved scheme;
“associated” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph (3);
“the commencement date” means 6th April 1997;
“connected” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph (3);
“direct payment, paid-up insured scheme” means a scheme under which—
(a) no further contributions are payable,
(b) the benefits that may be provided in respect of an individual are determined by reference to the value of the whole or a specified part of the rights under a contract of insurance, and
(c) the benefits in respect of any member are, in accordance with an agreement made between the insurer and the trustees of the scheme (or a subsequent agreement made with any person for the provision of those benefits by him), to be paid by the insurer (or that person) directly to the member or to a person entitled to benefits in respect of him;
“eligible members”, in relation to a scheme, means the members of the scheme by whom, in accordance with section 21(8)(a), approval of appropriate rules or, as the case may be, of alternative arrangements must be given (taking them as a whole) and, in a case where section 21(8) applies as mentioned in section 18(8) (aggregation) or in regulation 5(2), the references in this definition to the scheme are to the single scheme there mentioned;
“employer”, in relation to a scheme, means the employer of persons in the description or category of employment to which the scheme in question relates (but see paragraphs 1 and 4 of Schedule 3);
“former old code scheme” means an approved scheme which was formerly approved under section 208 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19704and under the provisions of which—
(a) no further contributions are payable, and
(b) the entitlement in respect of each member is to a benefit consisting of a specified fixed amount which may not be altered unless—
(i) he retires otherwise than at his normal pension age, or
(ii) another person becomes entitled to a benefit in respect of him;
“independently selected”, in relation to a trustee of a scheme or a director of a company which is a trustee of a scheme, means selected as a trustee or, as the case may be, a director—
(a) by some or all of the members of the scheme (otherwise than wholly or mainly by members who are directors of companies which are employers in relation to the scheme), or
(b) by an organisation which represents some or all of the members of the scheme (other than wholly or mainly members who are such directors);
“member”, in relation to a scheme to which regulation 18 applies, includes a member of any other scheme with which it is treated by that regulation as a single scheme;
“opt-out failure date”, in relation to a proposal by an employer for alternative arrangements, means—
(a) if the employer gives the trustees notice in writing within the approval period that he is not proceeding with the proposals, the date of that notice, and
(b) otherwise, the date with which the approval period expires;
“relevant benefits” has the meaning given in section 612(1) of the Taxes Act;
“relevant approved centralised scheme” means an approved scheme—
(a) which has been categorised by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for the purposes of its approval as a centralised scheme for non-associated employers (whether or not the employers are associated within the meaning of these regulations), or is an appropriate corresponding scheme,
(b) under the provisions of which the power to appoint or remove all the trustees is not exercisable solely by one employer or by employers all of whom are connected with each other, and
(c) which satisfies the independence conditions specified in paragraph (4);
“relevant executive pension scheme”, in relation to a company, means a scheme—
(a) in relation to which the company is the only employer and the sole trustee, and
(b) the members of which are either current or former directors of the company and include at least one-third of the current directors;
“relevant scheme”, in relation to any company to which section 18 applies (or would apply apart from section 19(1)), means a scheme by virtue of the trusteeship of which section 18 applies to the company (or would apply apart from section 19(1));
“relevant self-administered scheme” means—
(a) a small self-administered scheme as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Retirement Benefits Schemes (Restriction on Discretion to Approve) (Small Self-administered Schemes) Regulations 19915, or
(b) a scheme which would fall within that definition if paragraph (a) of the definition were omitted;
“relevant statutory scheme” has the meaning given in section 611A of the Taxes Act6;
“scheme”, in relation to a scheme to which regulation 18 applies, includes any other scheme with which it is treated by that regulation as a single scheme;
“scheme year”, in relation to a scheme, means—
(a) a year specified for the purposes of the scheme in any document comprising the scheme or, if none is so specified, a period of 12 months commencing with 1st April or such other date as the trustees of the scheme select, or
(b) such other period (if any) exceeding 6 months but not exceeding 18 months as is selected by the trustees—
(i) in respect of the scheme year in which the scheme commences or terminates, or
(ii) in connection with a variation of the date on which the scheme year is to commence,
and, in relation to a scheme to which regulation 18 applies, references to the first scheme year are to the first scheme year of whichever of the schemes treated as a single scheme commences last;
“section 615(6) scheme” means a scheme with such a superannuation fund as is mentioned in section 615(6) of the Taxes Act;
“the statutory consultation procedure” has the meaning given in section 21(7) (and is prescribed in Schedule 1);
“the Taxes Act” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19886.
(2) Except as otherwise provided, expressions used in these regulations have the same meaning as if they were used in Part I of the Pensions Act 19957.
(3) For the purposes of...
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