Following sustained pressure from various quarters including Aries, on 6 February the PSO finally posted the long-awaited 4th edition of the Free-Standing AVC Guidance Notes - the first official update of this Supplement to the Practice Notes (IR12) since 1989. The full document can be downloaded as a 186kb 51-page .pdf file. Alternatively, subscribers to the PSO Mailing List (see also footnote) will receive a paper copy with PSO Update No. 88, published on the website yesterday although dated 27 February 2001.

The Update comprises a mere three paragraphs. The first gives publication details and the third states that PSO's "intention" is to keep the GNs up to date in future, via amending pages attached to an Update and via the website edition. Sandwiched between, the second paragraph alone describes what has changed since the last consultation draft seen by the industry in 1997: unsurprisingly, pension sharing on divorce and flexibility are mentioned.

There is just one apparently 'new' change: transfers to an FSAVCS from an employer's separate AVC scheme are now allowable without needing to leave pensionable service [as defined in PSA 93 s.70(2)], provided the member is contributing to the FSAVCS (it is a long-standing rule that a TV-only FSAVC is not allowed, unlike a TV-only PP) [GN 14.3]. PSO has confirmed that "separate AVC scheme" means 'governed by its own trust and completely separate from the main scheme'. There are, of course, other changes to which the PSO has not felt it necessary to draw attention.

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