Transport Holding Company Act 1972

2 Pensions, and compensation for loss of employment etc.E+W+S

(1)The Secretary of State may by order make provision—

(a)for authorising or facilitating the transfer from [F1the National Freight Corporation] to another person of any functions of [F1the National Freight Corporation] (whether in pursuance of a statutory provision or otherwise) in connection with a pension scheme conferring pension rights in respect of persons who consist of or include employees of a relevant subsidiary, or for terminating or altering any such functions;

(b)for requiring [F1the National Freight Corporation] to make or secure the making of such payments as are needed to make good the whole or part of any deficiencies in the funds which are and will be available for meeting the actual and potential liabilities of the persons administering a pension scheme appearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained for the purpose of conferreing benefits on persons who consist of or include employees of a relevant subsidiary, being deficiencies determined in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks fit and and so determined as at the subsidiary’s transfer date;

(c)for securing that persons other than employees of relevant subsidiaries cease to be eligible to participate in pension schemes appearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respects of employees and former employees of relevant subsidiaries and that employees of relevant subsidiaries cease to be eligible to participate in pension schemes appearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respect of employees and former employees of public bodies engaged in the transport industry (other than the company) and their subsidiaries.

(2)The Secretary of State shall by order make provision for safeguarding, in such cases and such manner as may be determined by or under the order,—

(a)the pension rights which immediately before a relevant subsidiary’s transfer date are, by reference to that subsidiary or to bodies which include that subsidiary, conferred on any person by a pension scheme appearing to the Secretary of State to be a maintained mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respect of employees and former employees of that subsidiary or of subsidiaries of the company which include that subsidiary; and

(b)any other pension rights which, immediately before a person ceases to be eligible to particiate in a particular pension scheme by virtue of the fact that a body ceases to be a subsidiary of the company or by virtue of paragraph (c) of the preceding subsection, are conferred in respect of him by the scheme,

and an order containing provisions made by virtue of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection may also make provision—

(i)for enabling such a person as is mentioned in the said paragraph (a) or (b) to elect that any pension rights falling to be safeguaded in pursuance of this subsection (hereafter in this subsection referred to as “relevant pension rights”) shall be safeguarded in a particular manner determined by or under the order,

(ii)for requiring [F2the National Freight Corporation] to establish pension schemes for the propose of safeguarding any relevant pension rights,

(iii)for requiring [F2the National Freight Corporation] or the persons administering any pension scheme conferring relevant pension rights to make payments for the purpose of safeguarding relevant pension rights,

(iv)for authorising payments falling to be made in pursuance of the preceding paragraph by the persons administering a pension scheme to be made out of the funds of that scheme and for authorising the persons administering any pension scheme by means of which it is proposed to safeguard any relevant pension rights to accept for the purposes of that scheme payments in respect of those rights.

(3)An order under this section—

(a)may contain provisions for altering or winding up a pension scheme apearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained wholly or mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respect of employees and former employees of one or more relevant subsidiaries and to be affected by any provision made in pursuance of the preceding provisions of this section, or for dividing and disposing of the funds of such a scheme;

(b)may, without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, contain provisions for making such alterations of any pension scheme and of any statutory provision, trust deed, rules or other instrument as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for the purposes or in consequence of the order;

(c)may make such supplemental or consequential provision as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for the purposes of the order including, without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this paragraph, provision with respect to the determination of questions arising under the order and for referring disputes arising under the order to [F3an [F4employment tribunal]];

(d)may be made to have effect from a date before that on which it is made but not so as to place a person other than [F5the National Freight Corporation] in a worse position than that in which he would have been if the order had had effect only on and after that date; and

(e)may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order under this section.

(4)The Secretary of State shall by regulations require the payment by [F6the National Freight Corporation], in such cases and to such extent as may be determined by or under the regulations, of compenstation to or in repect of any person who—

(a)is or was, on or before the date when a body ceases to be a subsidiary of the company in consequence of the sale or other disposal of securities by the company or a subsidiary of the company after the passing of this Act, in such an employment as may be so determined; and

(b)suffers any loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments or pension rights or worsening of his position which is properly attributable to the cesser;

and subsections (2) to (4) of section 135 of the M1Transport Act 1968 (which contain supplementary provisions with repect to regulations providing for compensation for loss of employment and other matters) shall apply with the necessary modifications to regulations made in pursuance of this subsection as they apply to regulations made in pursuance of that section.

(5)The powers to make orders and regulations conferred by this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and any statutory instrument made by virtue of this subsection shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(6)In this section—

• “relevant subsidiary” means a body which after the passing of this Act ceased or is to cease to be a subsidiary of the company; and

• “transfer date”, in relation to a body which is a relevant subsidiary, means the date on which that body ceased or is to cease to be a subsidiary of the company;

and in this section expressions to which meanings are assigned by section 92(1) of the M2Transport Act 1962 have those meanings; and the Secretary of State may by order provide that, as respects any period after the dissolution of the company, any reference to the company in subsections (1) to (4) of this section which is specified in the order shall be construed as a reference to such person as the Secretary of State may designate by the order as being in his opinion the person to whom any relevant property, right or liability of the company has been transferred in pursuance of section 53 of the M3Transport Act 1968.

(7)Any reference in this section, or in the provisions of the M4Transport Act 1968 as applied by this section, to [F7an industrial tribunal] shall, in relation to Northern Ireland, be taken as a reference to a tribunal established under section 13 of the M5Industrial Training Act (Northern Ireland) 1964.

2 Pensions, and compensation for loss of employment etc.N.I.

(1)The Secretary of State may by order make provision—

(a)for authorising or facilitating the transfer from [F8the National Freight Corporation] to another person of any functions of [F8the National Freight Corporation] (whether in pursuance of a statutory provision or otherwise) in connection with a pension scheme conferring pension rights in respect of persons who consist of or include employees of a relevant subsidiary, or for terminating or altering any such functions;

(b)for requiring [F8the National Freight Corporation] to make or secure the making of such payments as are needed to make good the whole or part of any deficiencies in the funds which are and will be available for meeting the actual and potential liabilities of the persons administering a pension scheme appearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained for the purpose of conferreing benefits on persons who consist of or include employees of a relevant subsidiary, being deficiencies determined in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks fit and and so determined as at the subsidiary’s transfer date;

(c)for securing that persons other than employees of relevant subsidiaries cease to be eligible to participate in pension schemes appearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respects of employees and former employees of relevant subsidiaries and that employees of relevant subsidiaries cease to be eligible to participate in pension schemes appearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respect of employees and former employees of public bodies engaged in the transport industry (other than the company) and their subsidiaries.

(2)The Secretary of State shall by order make provision for safeguarding, in such cases and such manner as may be determined by or under the order,—

(a)the pension rights which immediately before a relevant subsidiary’s transfer date are, by reference to that subsidiary or to bodies which include that subsidiary, conferred on any person by a pension scheme appearing to the Secretary of State to be a maintained mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respect of employees and former employees of that subsidiary or of subsidiaries of the company which include that subsidiary; and

(b)any other pension rights which, immediately before a person ceases to be eligible to particiate in a particular pension scheme by virtue of the fact that a body ceases to be a subsidiary of the company or by virtue of paragraph (c) of the preceding subsection, are conferred in respect of him by the scheme,

and an order containing provisions made by virtue of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection may also make provision—

(i)for enabling such a person as is mentioned in the said paragraph (a) or (b) to elect that any pension rights falling to be safeguaded in pursuance of this subsection (hereafter in this subsection referred to as “relevant pension rights”) shall be safeguarded in a particular manner determined by or under the order,

(ii)for requiring [F9the National Freight Corporation] to establish pension schemes for the propose of safeguarding any relevant pension rights,

(iii)for requiring [F9the National Freight Corporation] or the persons administering any pension scheme conferring relevant pension rights to make payments for the purpose of safeguarding relevant pension rights,

(iv)for authorising payments falling to be made in pursuance of the preceding paragraph by the persons administering a pension scheme to be made out of the funds of that scheme and for authorising the persons administering any pension scheme by means of which it is proposed to safeguard any relevant pension rights to accept for the purposes of that scheme payments in respect of those rights.

(3)An order under this section—

(a)may contain provisions for altering or winding up a pension scheme apearing to the Secretary of State to be maintained wholly or mainly for the purpose of conferring benefits in respect of employees and former employees of one or more relevant subsidiaries and to be affected by any provision made in pursuance of the preceding provisions of this section, or for dividing and disposing of the funds of such a scheme;

(b)may, without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, contain provisions for making such alterations of any pension scheme and of any statutory provision, trust deed, rules or other instrument as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for the purposes or in consequence of the order;

(c)may make such supplemental or consequential provision as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for the purposes of the order including, without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this paragraph, provision with respect to the determination of questions arising under the order and for referring disputes arising under the order to [F10an industrial tribunal];

(d)may be made to have effect from a date before that on which it is made but not so as to place a person other than [F11the National Freight Corporation] in a worse position than that in which he would have been if the order had had effect only on and after that date; and

(e)may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order under this section.

(4)The Secretary of State shall by regulations require the payment by [F12the National Freight Corporation], in such cases and to such extent as may be determined by or under the regulations, of compenstation to or in repect of any person who—

(a)is or was, on or before the date when a body ceases to be a subsidiary of the company in consequence of the sale or other disposal of securities by the company or a subsidiary of the company after the passing of this Act, in such an employment as may be so determined; and

(b)suffers any loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments or pension rights or worsening of his position which is properly attributable to the cesser;

and subsections (2) to (4) of section 135 of the M6Transport Act 1968 (which contain supplementary provisions with repect to regulations providing for compensation for loss of employment and other matters) shall apply with the necessary modifications to regulations made in pursuance of this subsection as they apply to regulations made in pursuance of that section.

(5)The powers to make orders and regulations conferred by this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and any statutory instrument made by virtue of this subsection shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(6)In this section—

• “relevant subsidiary” means a body which after the passing of this Act ceased or is to cease to be a subsidiary of the company; and

• “transfer date”, in relation to a body which is a relevant subsidiary, means the date on which that body ceased or is to cease to be a subsidiary of the company;

and in this section expressions to which meanings are assigned by section 92(1) of the M7Transport Act 1962 have those meanings; and the Secretary of State may by order provide that, as respects any period after the dissolution of the company, any reference to the company in subsections (1) to (4) of this section which is specified in the order shall be construed as a reference to such person as the Secretary of State may designate by the order as being in his opinion the person to whom any relevant property, right or liability of the company has been transferred in pursuance of section 53 of the M8Transport Act 1968.

(7)Any reference in this section, or in the provisions of the M9Transport Act 1968 as applied by this section, to [F13an industrial tribunal] shall, in relation to Northern Ireland, be taken as a reference to a tribunal established under section 13 of the M10Industrial Training Act (Northern Ireland) 1964.