Pensions and Divorce: DSS Regs Laid
by Ian Neale 23/04/2000    Printer-friendly version of this page

Just before Easter, a raft of DSS regulations on Pensions and Divorce was laid before Parliament. All eight SIs come into force on 1 December 2000 and enable pension sharing to be considered as an option in all divorce and nullity proceedings which begin on or after that date. A DSS Press Release of 19 April announced that separate regulations to deal with the sharing of SERPS will be made later this year (although this has already been done, in part at least, for Scotland). It also notes that the Inland Revenue are to lay regulations on tax to accommodate pension sharing. Most of the cost of pension sharing is designed to be borne by the divorcing couple. (For a summary of the DSS Regs, see the article “Pensions and Divorce: DSS Regs Summary” in the Members' Area.)

An accompanying Press Release summarises the key findings of two DSS Research Reports on Pensions and Divorce. Conducted in 1998, a survey of over 500 solicitors in Great Britain revealed that the main advantage perceived of pension sharing over earmarking was that it allows a ‘clean break’. Offsetting pension rights has been far more common than earmarking, however, and only a minority of these solicitors declared that they even might have considered pension sharing. The main reason given by 30 solicitors interviewed later in depth was that compensation methods such as offsetting ensure the parties’ immediate needs are met. Pension sharing, it was thought, would mainly apply in cases where earmarking is currently considered appropriate. A final result reported by this survey was that SERPS benefits were rarely taken into account.