Workplace Pension Reform (Qualifying Schemes)

Monday 2nd July 2012 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

Later today the Government will publish the following documents:

“Automatic enrolment: Guidance for employers on certifying defined benefit and hybrid pension schemes”;

“Automatic enrolment: Guidance for actuaries on certifying defined benefit and hybrid pension schemes”;

The Hybrid Schemes Quality Requirements Rules 2012; and

The Government response to the consultation on “Automatic enrolment: career average schemes as qualifying schemes”.

We will also be publishing an updated version of:

“Automatic enrolment: Guidance on certifying money purchase pension schemes”.

The guidance and rules were the subject of consultation in 2011 and we are grateful to all of those individuals and organisations who provided responses on these as well as those who responded to the career average scheme consultation.

The guidance will help employers who are already providing good workplace pension schemes to continue to do so under the reforms.

Our response to the consultation on career average schemes confirms that we intend to lay an amended draft regulation before Parliament. The changes that this introduces will give career average schemes greater flexibility over the way in which they can provide for the revaluation of benefits that is required for them to be used as qualifying schemes.

I will place a copy of these documents in the House Library. They will also be available later today on the Department’s website at:

www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/pensions-reform/workplace-pension-reforms/guidance/ and www.dwp.gov.uk/ consultations/2012/auto-enrol-career-ave-qual-sch.shtml.

The hybrid schemes rules were signed on 29 June 2012 and took effect on 1 July 2012.