Citation, commencement and interpretation

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Occupational Pension Schemes (Trustees' Knowledge and Understanding) Regulations 2006 and shall come into force on 6th April 2006.

(2) In these Regulations—

“ the 2004 Act ” means the Pensions Act 2004;

“ the 1995 Act ” means the Pensions Act 1995 .

Exceptions for trustees of small schemes

2. —(1) The requirements imposed by sections 247(3) and (4) of the 2004 Act (requirement for knowledge and understanding: individual trustees) shall not apply to trustees of schemes with fewer than twelve members where all the members are trustees of the scheme and either—

(a) the provisions of the scheme provide that any decision made by the trustees is made by the unanimous agreement of the trustees who are members of the scheme, or

(b) the scheme has a trustee who is independent in relation to the scheme for the purposes of section 23 of the 1995 Act (power to appoint independent trustees), and is registered in the register maintained by the Authority in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4) of that section;

(2) The requirements imposed by section 248(3) and (5) of the 2004 Act (requirement for knowledge and understanding: corporate trustees) shall not apply to trustees of schemes with fewer than twelve members where a company is the sole trustee of the scheme and all of the members of the scheme are directors of the company and either—

(a) the provisions of the scheme provide that any decision made by the company in its capacity as trustee is made by the unanimous agreement of the directors who are members of the scheme, or

(b) one of the directors of the company is independent in relation to the scheme for the purposes of section 23 of the 1995 Act and is registered in the register maintained by the Authority in accordance with regulations made under subsection (4) of that section.

Individual trustees: period of grace

3. Section 247(3) and (4) of the 2004 Act shall not apply to any individual who is a trustee of a relevant scheme for a period of six months beginning with the date of his appointment as such a trustee, unless—

(a) he is an independent trustee who meets the requirements of section 23(1) of the 1995 Act; or

(b) he was appointed as a consequence of holding himself out as having expertise in any of the matters listed in section 247(4) of the 2004 Act or in any regulations made under paragraph (c) of that section.

Corporate trustees: period of grace

4. Section 248(3) and (5) of the 2004 Act shall not apply to any individual, who exercises any function which a company has as trustee of a relevant scheme, for a period of six months beginning with the date of his appointment to the company, unless—

(a) he is an independent trustee who meets the requirements of section 23(1) of the 1995 Act; or

(b) he was appointed as a consequence of holding himself out as having expertise in any of the matters listed in section 248(5) of the 2004 Act or in any regulations made under paragraph (c) of that section.