Subject to regulation 32H, a scheme to which section 28 (certification that quality requirement or alternative requirement is satisfied) applies is to be taken to satisfy the relevant quality requirement in relation to each of an employer's relevant jobholders if the certificate in question is given in accordance with regulations 32B to 32D in relation to the employer and those jobholders.

Giving of a certificate, retention and disclosure

32B

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a certificate under section 28(1) (certification that quality requirement or alternative requirement is satisfied) must be given by the employer or by a person who is authorised by the employer to give the certificate on the employer's behalf.

(2) The person who gives the certificate must have regard to any guidance that is issued by the Department.

(3) A certificate may be given for a certification period of 18 months or any part of such a period.

(4) A certificate must be given no later than the end of a period of one month beginning with the first day of the certification period.

(5) The employer or a person as referred to in paragraph (1) may, at any time before the end of the certification period, amend the certificate so that the certification period ends on a different day, being a day after the day on which the amendment is made and not later than the last day of the period of 18 months beginning with the first day of the certification period.

(6) Where a certificate has been amended under paragraph (5), it may be amended again under that paragraph and so on with reference to any further amendment that is made under that paragraph.

(7) The employer must retain the certificate for a period of 6 years after the end of the certification period and must provide a copy of the certificate to the Regulator on receiving from the Regulator a notification requesting such a copy.

(8) The employer must, where a request for a copy of the certificate is received within the period of 6 years after the end of the certification period, from—

(a) a relevant jobholder, or

(b) any independent trade union recognised to any extent for the purposes of collective bargaining in relation to any relevant jobholder,

send a copy of the certificate to the person who requested it, within a period of 2 months after the day on which the employer received the request.

(9) For the purposes of paragraph (8), “independent trade union” has the meaning given in Article 2(3) of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

Form of certificate

32C

A certificate under section 28(1) (certification that quality requirement or alternative requirement is satisfied) must be in writing and contain the following information—

(a) whether the certificate relates to part of a scheme and, if so, which part;

(b) the employer pension scheme reference within the meaning of regulation 1(2) of the Employers' Duties (Registration and Compliance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010;

(c) whether the certificate relates to all of the jobholders of the employer who are active members of the scheme or part-scheme in question;

(d) where the certificate relates to only some of the jobholders of the employer who are active members of the scheme or part-scheme (“the active members”)—

(i) the names and roles of the relevant jobholders;

(ii) where one or more of the active members have not been included in the certificate because they have chosen to pay contributions at a level such that the relevant quality requirement or alternative requirement is not met, the names and roles of those active members, and

(iii) where one or more of the active members have not been included in the certificate because, in the opinion of the person who gives the certificate, the contributions made by the employer and the member will clearly meet the relevant quality requirement, the names and roles of those active members;

(e) where the certificate is given with respect to an alternative requirement—

(i) under regulation 32E or 32G, which of the sets of requirements in regulation 32E applies, or

(ii) under regulation 32F, which of the sets of requirements in that regulation applies;

(f) where the certificate relates to a hybrid scheme to which regulation 43 applies, the percentages referred to in regulation 43(4)(a) and (b);

(g) where there is an upper limit to the amount of contributions that may be paid as referred to in regulation 32E(5) or 32F(8), that limit;

(h) the certification period, and

(i) whether that period has been amended and, if so, the previous certification period or periods.

Renewal of certificate

32D

(1) Paragraph (2) applies where—

(a) it is proposed to give, by or on behalf of an employer, a certificate under section 28(1) (certification that quality requirement or alternative requirement is satisfied) (“the further certificate”), and

(b) the certification period of one or more reference certificates has ended, or will end, within a period of 2 years before the day on which it is proposed that the certification period of the further certificate will begin.

(2) Where this paragraph applies, before the further certificate is given, the employer must—

(a) assess whether, during the certification period of any reference certificate as referred to in paragraph (1)(b) and in relation to the jobholders to whom that certificate applies, all of the elements of the alternative requirement or relevant quality requirement were, or will be, met;

(b) where an element of the alternative requirement or relevant quality requirement was not, or will not be, met, consider what (if any) action needs to be taken by the employer in order to ensure that the alternative requirement or relevant quality requirement will be met in relation to the jobholders to whom the further certificate will apply, for the proposed period of the further certificate, and take any such action;

(i) the assessment made under sub-paragraph (a), and

(ii) the action (if any) that the employer takes, as referred to in sub-paragraph (b);

(d) retain that record for a period of 6 years beginning with the day on which the record was compiled, and

(e) provide a copy of that record to the Regulator on receiving a notification from the Regulator requesting such a copy.

(3) Paragraph (2) applies even where, under regulation 32H(2), in relation to a reference certificate and the jobholders to whom it applies, the scheme is not to be treated by virtue of regulation 32A as having satisfied the relevant quality requirement.

(4) For the purposes of paragraphs (1) to (3), a “reference certificate” means a certificate under section 28(1) that has been given, by or on behalf of the employer, in relation to some or all of the jobholders to whom the further certificate is to apply.

Alternative requirements for a money purchase scheme

32E

(1) Subject to paragraph (1A), in relation to a money purchase scheme to which section 20 (quality requirement: UK money purchase schemes) applies ..., the prescribed alternative requirement is the first, second or third set of requirements set out in paragraph (2), (3) or (4).

(1A) In relation to a money purchase scheme—

(a) to which section 20 of the Act applies, and

(b) which provides collective money purchase benefits,

the prescribed alternative requirement is the first, second or third set of requirements set out in paragraph (2), (3) or (4) or, in respect of any jobholders accruing rights to benefits under a collective money purchase scheme, the requirements set out in regulation 32EA.

(2) The first set of requirements is that under the scheme—

(a) the employer of the relevant jobholder must pay contributions in respect of the jobholder;

(b) the employer's contribution must be equal to or more than 4% of the amount of the relevant jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period;

(c) the total amount of the contributions paid by the relevant jobholder and the employer must be equal to or more than 9% of the jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period, and

(d) the pensionable earnings of the relevant jobholder must be equal to or more than the basic pay of that jobholder.

(3) The second set of requirements is that—

(a) under the scheme—

(i) the employer of the relevant jobholder must pay contributions in respect of the jobholder;

(ii) the employer's contribution must be equal to or more than 3% of the amount of the relevant jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period;

(iii) the total amount of the contributions paid by the relevant jobholder and the employer must be equal to or more than 8% of the amount of the jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period, and

(iv) the pensionable earnings of the relevant jobholder must be equal to or more than the basic pay of that jobholder, and

(b) taking all of the relevant jobholders together, the pensionable earnings of those jobholders constitute at least 85% of the earnings of those jobholders in the certification period.

(4) The third set of requirements is that under the scheme—

(a) the employer of the relevant jobholder must pay contributions in respect of the jobholder;

(b) the employer's contribution must be equal to or more than 3% of the amount of the relevant jobholder's earnings in the certification period, and

(c) the total amount of the contributions paid by the relevant jobholder and the employer must be equal to or more than 7% of the amount of the jobholder's earnings in that period.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), for the purposes of paragraphs (1) to (4), a scheme as referred to in paragraph (1) may satisfy the first, second or third set of requirements even though under the scheme there is an upper limit (however expressed) to the amount of contributions that may be paid by the employer or the relevant jobholder or both of those persons.

(6) The upper limit must not result in the payment of contributions by the employer, or by the employer and the relevant jobholder, that are less than those required by the relevant quality requirement.

(7) For the purposes of paragraphs (2) to (6), a reference to “the relevant jobholder” is a reference to each of the relevant jobholders.

Alternative requirements for a personal pension scheme

32F

(1) In relation to a personal pension scheme to which section 26 (quality requirement: UK personal pension schemes) applies or which is referred to in regulation 32J(1), the prescribed alternative requirement is the first, second or third set of requirements set out in paragraph (2), (4) or (6).

(2) The first set of requirements is that—

(a) all of the benefits that may be provided to the relevant jobholder under the scheme are money purchase benefits;

(b) there is, in relation to the relevant jobholder, an agreement between the provider of the scheme and the employer under which—

(i) the employer must pay contributions in respect of the jobholder;

(ii) the employer's contribution must be equal to or more than 4% of the amount of the jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period, and

(iii) the pensionable earnings of the jobholder must be equal to or more than the basic pay of that jobholder;

(c) if there is a shortfall, there is an agreement between the provider of the scheme and the relevant jobholder which provides that the jobholder must pay contributions which are equal to or more than the shortfall, and

(d) there are direct payment arrangements between the relevant jobholder and the employer within the meaning of section 107A of the 1993 Act (monitoring of employers' payments to personal pension schemes).

(3) In paragraph (2)(c) “shortfall” means the difference (if any) between—

(a) the employer's contributions in respect of the relevant jobholder under the agreement referred to in paragraph (2)(b), and

(b) 9% of the amount of the relevant jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period, being earnings which are equal to or more than the basic pay of that jobholder.

(4) The second set of requirements is that—

(a) all of the benefits that may be provided to the relevant jobholder under the scheme are money purchase benefits;

(b) there is, in relation to the relevant jobholder, an agreement between the provider of the scheme and the employer under which—

(i) the employer must pay contributions in respect of the jobholder;

(ii) the employer's contribution must be equal to or more than 3% of the amount of the jobholder's pensionable earnings in the certification period, and

(iii) the pensionable earnings of the jobholder must be equal to or more than the basic pay of that jobholder;

(c) if there is a shortfall, there is an agreement between the provider of the scheme and the relevant jobholder which provides that the jobholder must pay contributions which are equal to or more than the shortfall;

(d) taking all of the relevant jobholders together, the pensionable earnings of the jobholders constitute at least 85% of the earnings of the jobholders in the certification period, and

(e) there are direct payment arrangements between the relevant jobholder and the employer within the meaning of section 107A of the 1993 Act.

(5) In paragraph (4)(c) “shortfall” means the difference (if any) between—

(a) the employer's contributions in respect of the relevant jobholder under the agreement referred to in paragraph (4)(b), and

Reading this document does not replace reading the official text published on legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies arising from the conversion of the original CLML XML to this format.

This text is published under legislation.gov.uk's own terms of reuse, not a Legalize or public-domain licence. legislation.gov.uk
Open Government Licence v3.0 (attribution required)
© Crown and database right. Derived from content available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 from legislation.gov.uk.