The Stakeholder Pension Schemes Regulations 2000

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Stakeholder Pension Schemes Regulations 2000.

(2) Parts I to III and V of these Regulations shall come into force on 1st October 2000 and Part IV shall come into force on 8th October 2001.

(3) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999(1);

“the 1993 Act” means the Pension Schemes Act 1993;

“the 1995 Act” means the Pensions Act 1995;

“beneficiary”, in relation to a stakeholder pension scheme, means any person who has rights under the scheme which have arisen as a result of the death of a member of the scheme;

“the Income and Corporation Taxes Act” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988(2);

“insurance company” means a company which is authorised under sections 3 or 4 of the Insurance Companies Act 1982(3);

“investment trust” means a company which is approved for the purposes of section 842 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act(4);

“minimum contributions” means amounts paid by the Inland Revenue in accordance with section 43 of the 1993 Act (payment of minimum contributions to personal pension schemes)(5);

“minimum payments” means payments made to an occupational pension scheme in respect of a person’s employment by virtue of which (subject to there being in force a contracting-out certificate issued by the Inland Revenue in accordance with Chapter I of Part III of the 1993 Act) that employment is contracted-out employment by reference to the scheme under section 8(1) of the 1993 Act (meaning of “contracted-out employment” and “minimum payment”)(6);

“pension arrangement” means—

which has effect, or is capable of having effect, so as to provide benefits on termination of employment or on death or retirement, to or in respect of earners;

“property” includes land;

“qualifying scheme” shall, in respect of an employer, include any stakeholder pension scheme which has at any time been designated by the employer under section 3(2);

“reporting accountant” has the meaning given to it by regulation 11(3);

“securities” means investments falling within paragraphs 1 to 5 of Schedule 1 to the Financial Services Act 1986 (investments and investment business)(7) but does not include shares in an investment trust;

“tax relief” means amounts which may be deducted from contributions, retained by members and recovered from the Inland Revenue by a scheme administrator under section 639 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act;

“transfer payment” means a payment in respect of a person’s accrued rights under a pension scheme or pension arrangement made with a view to acquiring rights under another pension scheme or pension arrangement for that person; and

“with-profits fund” means a fund, maintained by an insurance company in respect of a particular part of its long-term business for which—

(4) In these Regulations references to notice in writing include using electronic communications for sending a notice to an address notified by the member for that purpose.

(5) Sections 249 and 435 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (connected and associated persons)(8) and section 74 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 (associated persons), apply for the purposes of regulations 4(3) and 11(4) as they apply for the purposes of those Acts respectively.

(6) For the purposes of these Regulations and section 1(8) and (9) (which provide that stakeholder pension schemes must have tax-exemption or tax-approval and must not refuse to accept transfer payments except in so far as necessary to ensure that the scheme has such exemption or approval) “tax-exemption” and “tax-approval” mean tax-exemption and tax-approval under Chapter IV of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act.

(7) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, references to a section are to a section of the Act.