The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

PART 9N.I.Automatic enrolment schemes

[F1Further conditions applicable to automatic enrolment schemesN.I.

35.—(1) The conditions prescribed for the purposes of section 17(1)(c) (automatic enrolment schemes) are—

(a)that the scheme must be—

(i)an occupational pension scheme within section 18(a) or (b) (occupational pension schemes with main administration in the UK or in an EEA state other than the UK), or

(ii)a personal pension scheme where the operation of the scheme—

(aa)is regulated by a competent authority, and

(bb)is carried on by a person who is in relation to that activity authorised by a competent [F2authority;]

(b)where the scheme is an occupational pension scheme within section 18(b) or a personal pension scheme where the operation of the scheme is carried on in accordance with sub-paragraph (a)(ii) by a person authorised by a competent authority other than that of the United Kingdom, the regulatory requirements applicable must provide that—

(i)at least 70% of the relevant benefits will be designated for the purpose of providing the jobholder with an income for life, and

(ii)the benefits payable to the jobholder under the scheme are payable no earlier than they would be under pension rule 1 in section 165(1) of the Finance Act 2004 [F3(pension rules), and]

[F4(c)except as provided in paragraph (1A), that the provisions governing any part of a scheme which provides money purchase benefits must not include a provision that allows for—

(i)any amount to be deducted from any payments made to the scheme by or on behalf of or in respect of the jobholder;

(ii)any amount to be deducted from any income or capital gain arising from the investment of such payments, or

(iii)the value of the jobholder’s rights under the scheme to be reduced by any amount,

where the amount is to be paid to a third party under an agreement between the employer and the third party.]

[F5(1A) Paragraph (1)(c) does not apply where an employer has entered into a legally enforceable agreement with a third party before 10th May 2013 under which an amount is to be paid to the third party in one or more of the ways set out in paragraph (1)(c)(i) to (iii).]

(2) For the purposes of this regulation—

• “competent authority” has, as the case may be, the meaning given in—

  (a)

  Article 4(4) of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions;

  (b)

  [F6Article 4(26) of Directive 2014/65/EU] of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments;

  (c)

  Article 2(1)(h) of Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities, or

  (d)

  [F7Article 13(10) of Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II);]

• “regulatory requirements” includes provisions of legislation that concern tax;

• “relevant benefits” means—

  (a)

  any money purchase benefits applicable to the jobholder, and

  (b)

  in relation to a defined benefits scheme, or the defined benefits element of a hybrid scheme, that provides for a sum of money to be made available for the provision of benefits to a member, that sum.

• [F8“third party” means any person other than—

  (a)

  the jobholder;

  (b)

  where the scheme is an occupational pension scheme, the trustees or managers of the scheme, or

  (c)

  where the scheme is a personal pension scheme, the provider of the scheme.]]