News 2009
Draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2010
12 August 2009
The Government published today a consultation on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2010. The consultation seeks views on the draft Regulations that make proposals for the delivery of the remaining elements of the extension to the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) announced on 17 December 2007. These include:
- the transfer of assets to government;
- payment of lump sums; and
- provision for those members of schemes who would have received more from their pension scheme than the Assistance payments FAS would otherwise provide had their scheme continued to wind-up and purchase annuities rather than transfer assets.
The written consultation period will last for 8 weeks and end on 6 October 2009.
- Consultation on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2010 (679KB)
- Draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2010 – Draft Regulations (224KB)
- Draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2010 – Impact Assessment (94KB)
Board of the Pension Protection Fund takes over as scheme manager of the Financial Assistance Scheme
10 July 2009
The Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009 came into force on 10 July, making the Board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) scheme manager. The day-to-day administration of FAS payments will continue to be carried out by the FAS Operational Unit on behalf of the PPF. The PPF is now also responsible for publishing information for pension scheme members and pension professionals on the PPF FAS website
The DWP retains responsibility for developing FAS policy and information on legislation and the latest consultations will continue to be published on the DWP internet site.
Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009
10 July 2009
Regulations came into force on 10 July to make further changes to the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) assistance payable following the December 2007 commitment, made by the then Secretary of State, to introduce significant improvements to the FAS. These regulations:
- Implement final changes to the FAS assistance payable to those qualifying members whose schemes have, or will have, discharged their liability to their members through existing routes such as the purchase of annuities; and
- Implement changes to FAS administrative procedures, including making the Board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) the FAS scheme manager.
Government response to FAS consultation on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009
16 June 2009
The Government has published its response to the consultation on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009.
A final draft of the Regulations was also laid before Parliament on 16 June. These regulations will make the final changes to the FAS assistance payable to those qualifying members whose schemes are not among those whose assets are being transferred to government. The regulations also implement certain changes to the administration of FAS, including making the Board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) the FAS scheme manager.
- draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009 (260KB)
- Explanatory Memorandum for the draft regulations (64KB)
A consolidated version of the Financial Assistance Scheme Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1986), which set out the way in which FAS payments are calculated, has been prepared showing the changes introduced by the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009. This only reflects the changes to the Financial Assistance Scheme Regulations 2005; amendments are also made to other regulations.
Consultation on draft actuarial guidance
2 April 2009
We expect to start consultation on Regulations that will enable the transfer of relevant schemes assets into Government over the summer.
Ahead of this we have started a consultation on draft guidance prepared by the Government Actuary’s Department on the method and assumptions that will apply when actuaries undertake valuations in respect of FAS qualifying schemes to facilitate the transfer of assets. We hope that early consultation on this guidance will generate feedback on potential practical issues and enable schemes to start to undertake preparatory work.
In general we will expect schemes to allocate their assets in the same way as they would were they completing wind-up by purchasing annuities to help ensure that outcomes for members of ‘transferring’ schemes will be broadly consistent with the outcomes of members of schemes that have already wound up.
The consultation is technical and aimed primarily at pension scheme actuaries. The consultation period ends on 15 May 2009. The consultation documents include illustrative examples to assist actuaries apply the guidance.
The consultation documents are on the DWP 2009 consultation page, listed by publication date (2 April 2009).
- Actuarial guidance consultation (02/04/09)
Financial Assistance Scheme and Incapacity Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009
27 March 2009
Regulations came into force on 27 March which will allow for early unreduced payment of assistance for qualifying members who are aged 55 or over, who are not terminally ill, but have a significantly shortened life expectancy. These payments will be called Severe ill-health payments
The Regulations will also provide for:
- An application to be made for a past period before the Regulations came into force
- A transitional period of one year in which people may make a claim for a past period.
- A survivor or relevant representative to make an application in respect of a member who may have benefited from the provisions had they not died.
- FAS payments to be treated as pension payments for IB purposes
You can read further information on severe ill-health payments on the Pension Protection Fund’s FAS website.
Government response to FAS consultation on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme and Incapacity Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009
12 February 2009
The Government has published its response to the consultation on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008. A final draft of the Regulations was also laid before Parliament on 11 February to allow for early unreduced payment of assistance for qualifying members who are aged 55 or over, who are not terminally ill, but have a significantly shortened life expectancy.
Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009 - Consultation
11 February 2009
The Government is today publishing a consultation to outline the next steps to delivering the December 2007 commitment made by the then Secretary of State, on significant improvements to the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS). Changes have already been introduced through two sets of earlier regulations which came into force in 2008.
This consultation seeks views on the draft Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009, which will bring in elements of the extension to the FAS, which include measures to implement all the remaining enhancements to the calculation of the amount of assistance for those who are not members of schemes whose assets are being transferred to government. They also make certain changes to the administration of FAS, including a proposal to confer responsibility for the FAS on the Board of the Pension Protection Fund.
The document also sets out proposals for implementing the remaining elements of the December 2007 announcement, including the taking into government of the remaining assets in FAS schemes and making the payments associated with them. There will be further formal consultation on the latter proposals when draft Regulations to implement them are published later this year.
Previous FAS news
The Board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) became the scheme manager for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) on 17 July 2009 and all information relating to the administration of the FAS can now be found on the PPF’s dedicated FAS website. This section contains information from before 17 July 2009 which may be useful to pension professionals and pension scheme members.
