Citation, interpretation and extent

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Pension Schemes Act 2021 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2022.

(2) In these Regulations “ the Act ” means the Pension Schemes Act 2021.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), these Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

(4) An amendment or repeal brought into force by these Regulations has the same extent as the provision it amends or repeals.

Provisions coming into force on the day after the day these Regulations are made

2. The day appointed for the coming into force of the following provisions of the Act is the day after the day these Regulations are made—

(a) section 111(2)(b) (inspection of premises) insofar as it adds to the provisions coming within section 73(2)(e) of the Pensions Act 2004 (inspection of premises)( 2 ) provisions in force in Northern Ireland corresponding to provisions contained in or made by virtue of the Pensions Schemes Act 2017( 3 ),

(b) section 111(1) insofar as it relates to the amendment referred to in sub-paragraph (a),

(c) section 116 (minor and consequential amendments) insofar as it is not in force, except insofar as it relates to the reference, in the amendment made by paragraph 7(3) of Schedule 7 to the Act (the Pensions Regulator: minor and consequential amendments), to Part 1 of the Act, and

(d) paragraphs 13 to 20 of Schedule 7.

Provisions coming into force on 1st August 2022

3. The day appointed for the coming into force of the following provisions of the Act is 1st August 2022—

(a) Part 1 (collective money purchase benefits) insofar as it is not in force, except for paragraph 19 of Schedule 3 (collective money purchase benefits: minor and consequential amendments),

(b) section 111 insofar as it is not in force,

(c) section 113 (provision of false or misleading information to Regulator) insofar as it inserts paragraph (2)(c)(vi) of section 80A into the Pensions Act 2004 (financial penalty for providing false or misleading information to Regulator)( 4 ),

(d) section 116 and Schedule 7 insofar as they are not in force, and

(e) section 128 (Pension Schemes Act 2015: repeals), except for paragraph (c) insofar as it omits section 44 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (removal of requirement to maintain register of independent trustees)( 5 ).

Transitional provision in respect of schemes which were established before 1st August 2022

4. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), section 3 of the Act (qualifying schemes) does not apply to a pension scheme which was established before 1st August 2022.

(2) Where—

(a) a pension scheme which was established before 1st August 2022 is divided into sections for the purpose of providing benefits under the scheme which are qualifying benefits under section 2 of the Act (qualifying benefits) (whether or not the scheme has previously been divided into sections), and

(b) a section of the pension scheme which provides, or is to provide, such benefits—

(i) first operates after 31st July 2022,

(ii) does not first operate before it is authorised, and

(iii) does not have rights to benefits under the scheme attributed to it before the date that it first operates,

section 3 of the Act applies to the pension scheme insofar only as required to permit the application of section 1(2)(b) of the Act (collective money purchase benefits and schemes) to any such section of the pension scheme.

(3) For the purposes of this regulation a section of a pension scheme first operates when payments made by or on behalf of or in respect of members of the scheme for the purpose of providing benefits under the scheme are first allocated to the section.

(4) In this regulation “authorised” and “pension scheme” each have the meaning given in section 49(1) of the Act.