UK Offence Report

Money purchase schemes: deficiency in assets owing to fraud, etc.

regulation 7(2) of The Occupational Pension Schemes (Deficiency on Winding Up, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

“criminal reduction” means

a reduction which is attributable to an act or omission which constitutes an offence prescribed for the purposes of Article 79(1)(c) (or, in the case of an act or omission which occurred outside Northern Ireland, would constitute such an offence if it occurred in Northern Ireland). .

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (knows that) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses knows that - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach regulation 7(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person occurred in Northern Ireland).
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Occupational Pension Schemes (Deficiency on Winding Up, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
13 December 1996
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations concern the treatment under Article 75 of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (“the Order”) of a deficit in the assets of an occupational pension scheme as a debt owed by the employer to the trustees or managers of the scheme. Article 75 of the Order replaces section 140 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993, and these Regulations replace the Occupational Pension Schemes (Deficiency on Winding Up, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994 (“the 1994 Regulations”). Regulation 1 deals with the citation and commencement. Generally, the Regulations take effect from 6th April 1997, although regulation 1 comes into operation on 19th December 1996 to provide for the application of regulation 6 as represents the intervening period. The Regulations do not apply where an employer became insolvent or, in the case of money purchase schemes, criminal loss occurred before 6th April 1997. They do not apply to any schemes that began to wind up before 19th December 1996. Regulation 2 describes the terms used in the Regulations and identifies 2 Actuarial Guidance Notes (GN 19 and GN 27) to be used in connection with the calculation of any debt. Regulations 3 to 6 apply to schemes which are not money purchase schemes. Regulation 3 provides for the calculation of liabilities and assets of schemes and that where a valuation reveals a deficit, the actuary should complete a certificate as set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations. Regulation 4 modifies Article 75 of the Order for schemes with more than one employer. It modifies the time when a debt arises under that Article and requires the whole of any deficiency in the assets to be divided up amongst the employers. Where a scheme with more than one employer is divided up into separate sections, each section is to be treated as a separate scheme. Regulation 5 modifies Article 75 of the Order and these Regulations for schemes that have no active members so that former employers are treated as employers in certain circumstances. Regulation 6 modifies the application of Article 75 of the Order in respect of employers who ceased to participate in the scheme between 19th December 1996 and 6th April 1997. Regulations 7 to 9 apply Article 75 to money purchase schemes with modifications. Regulation 7 makes provision so that where any money purchase scheme has suffered a reduction in its assets through an offence prescribed for the purposes of Article 79(1)(c) of the Order and unallocated assets are insufficient to bear the loss, it is treated as a debt from the employer. Regulations 8 and 9 make a similar provision for money purchase schemes with more than one employer or no active members to that made by regulations 4 and 5. Regulation 10 provides that Article 75 of the Order shall not apply to certain schemes. Regulation 11 and Schedule 2 make special provision for schemes that have members in United Kingdom and non United Kingdom employment or have a partial government guarantee or schemes where all the benefits provided (other than death benefits) are money purchase benefits. Regulation 12 enables trustees of trust schemes to modify them so as to apportion deficit in a multi-employer scheme in different proportions from those which otherwise apply under the Regulations. Regulation 13 revokes the former Regulations in respect of cases covered by these Regulations and saves arrangements under regulation 4 of the 1994 Regulations. The Pensions (1995 Order) (Commencement No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 91 (C. 4)) provides for the coming into operation of Articles 68, 75 and 87 for the purpose only of authorising the making of regulations, on 6th April 1996, and Articles 116 and 166, in so far as it was not already in operation, on 6th April 1996. The Pensions (1995 Order) (Commencement No. 5) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 534 (C. 25)) provides for the coming into operation of Articles 115 and 122(2) to (4), in so far as not already in operation, on 19th November 1996. As these Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Security in relation to Great Britain, the requirement for consultation under Article 117(1) of the Order does not apply by virtue of paragraph (2)(e) of that Article.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.75.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.75 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source