The Railway Pensions (Protection and Designation of Schemes) Order 1994

PART IIIParticipation in the joint industry scheme

Entitlement to participate

11.—(1) Subject to the following paragraphs of this article, any person to whom paragraph 8(1) (entitlement to participate in the joint industry scheme) of Schedule 11 applies shall have the right to continue to participate in the joint industry scheme in accordance with the rules of that scheme unless and until the termination conditions to which reference is made in paragraph 8(5) of that Schedule become fulfilled in his case.

(2) The conditions which are prescribed for the purposes of paragraph 8(2)(b)(iii) (conditions required to be fulfilled if that paragraph is to apply to certain persons) of Schedule 11 are—

(a)the person in question was not participating in an existing scheme immediately after the passing of the Act but he had not voluntarily withdrawn or transferred from the existing scheme in which he had last participated;

(b)where the person in question was not an employee of the Board or of a subsidiary of the Board immediately after the passing of the Act, he has thereafter entered the employment of an employer who is engaged in the railway industry—

(i)pursuant to a statutory or contractual right to return to such employment or to a representation to the effect that he could return to such employment made by the Board of a subsidiary of the Board and that right has subsisted or, as the case may be, that representation had been made before the passing of the Act; or

(ii)in circumstances in which his period of continuous employment began before the passing of the Act; and

(c)the person in question either—

(i)has participated, or within 6 months of returning to relevant employment or by 31st March 1995, if later, has applied to participate, in the joint industry scheme from the first day after the passing of the Act on which he became entitled to participate in it; or

(ii)where there is no section of the joint industry scheme in which he is entitled to participate, has given notice to his employer within 6 months of his returning to relevant employment or by 31st March 1995, if later, of his wish to participate in that scheme from a date no later than the date of his return to that employment.

(3) There shall be disregarded for the purpose of determining whether a person fulfils the qualifying conditions or whether the termination conditions have become fulfilled in his case—

(a)any break in his continuity of employment where—

(i)until that break begins he is employed by an employer who is engaged in the railway industry;

(ii)within 6 months of the beginning of that break he begins a new period of employment with an employer who is engaged in that industry; and

(iii)during that break he is not at any time employed by an employer who is not engaged in that industry;

(b)a voluntary withdrawal from an occupational pension scheme where a person withdraws from such a scheme in consequence of his change from employment with one employer engaged in the railway industry to employment with an associated employer who is so engaged provided that he participates in an occupational pension scheme which relates to his new employment within 6 months of that voluntary withdrawal; and

(c)any period not exceeding 12 months during which he is not in the employment of an employer engaged in the railway industry where, throughout the period in question, either—

(i)he remains in relevant employment; or

(ii)any break in his continuity of employment is disregarded for the purposes of any provision of this Order.

(4) The activities specified for the purposes of paragraph 8(7) (activities to be regarded as the railway industry) of Schedule 11 are—

(a)the provision of any railway services;

(b)the operation of any railway assets;

(c)the manufacture, supply (whether by way of sale, lease or otherwise) or maintenance of goods used or to be used in the provision of railway services or the operation of railway assets;

(d)the supply (whether by way of sale, lease or otherwise) of goods or the provision of services or facilities for any purpose ancillary or related to, or connected with, an activity specified in sub–paragraph (a), (b) or (c)

provided that,in each case, the activity is carried on—

(i)by the Board or a subsidiary of the Board;

(ii)in the course of an undertaking, being an undertaking derived (wholly or partly, directly or indirectly) from, or from some part of, an undertaking carried on by the Board or a subsidiary of the Board after the commencement of the Act; or

(iii)in the course of an undertaking the property, rights or liabilities of which were acquired (wholly or partly, directly or indirectly) from the Board or a subsidiary of the Board and which were disposed of by the Board or such subsidiary after the commencement of the Act.

(5) The employer of a person for the time being entitled to the right conferred by paragraph (1) shall, so far as he is able, provide a section of the joint industry scheme which is a shared cost arrangement within the meaning of the Railway Pension Scheme Order 1994(1) —

(a)to which any pension rights of that person which have been derived from employment with an employer who is engaged in the railway industry may be transferred; and

(b)under which that person may acquire further pension rights by virtue of his employment with that employer.

(6) Where a person who has the right to participate in the joint industry scheme under paragraph (1) participates in that scheme, his employer for the time being shall pay any contributions which are required of the employer of that person under that scheme.

(7) Where the approval or consent of a person is necessary in connection with the doing of anything which is required to be done under this article, that person shall give his approval or consent.

(8) A person who would otherwise be entitled to the right conferred by virtue of paragraph (1) may be prevented from continuing to participate in the joint industry scheme in circumstances where his continued participation in that scheme would in the opinion of the trustees of that scheme—

(a)prejudice any approval of that scheme for the purposes of Chapter I of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (retirement benefit schemes); or

(b)prevent the scheme from being a contracted–out scheme for the purposes of Part III of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 or Part III of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993.