Parliament has approved the draft secondary legislation necessary to implement the Civil Partnership Act 2004. Regulations made on 25 July 2005 and coming into force on 5 December 2005:

(a) amend provisions of various Acts relating particularly to state pensions and benefit payments, extending those provisions to civil partners and surviving civil partners (SI 2005/2053); and

(b) amend the Pension Schemes Act 1993 and ten subordinate SIs, making provision for surviving civil partners to receive pensions under contracted-out and appropriate personal pension schemes (SI 2005/2050).

Other recent DWP publications

1. The Financial Assistance Scheme (Internal Review) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1994) came into in force the day after being made on 19 July 2005. This happened remarkably swiftly (seven days, in fact) after the Parliamentary Standing Committee had approved the revised draft regs on which we reported earlier. For some unknown reason, though, we are still waiting for The Financial Assistance Scheme Regulations 2005, also approved by Parliament on 12 July*.

* these regulations were published on 5 August as SI 2005/1986; in force 1 September 2005, except for provisions rating to civil partnerships (5 December 2005, as above).

During the debate, it emerged that the FAS is costing £16 million just to set up, plus about £1 million pa to run; equivalent to almost a third of the funds nominally allocated for the first three years' operation of the FAS. Although this money will come out of a separate budget, the news will exacerbate the dismay created by the Government announcement of a one-year delay in the next spending review, on which all hopes for a less derisory future allocation of funds are based.

2. Three SIs relating to the functions of the PPF Ombudsman (currently David Laverick, who doubles as the Pensions Ombudsman) were made on 20 July and came into force the following day:

1. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF Ombudsman) Amendment Order 2005 (SI 2005/2023);
2. The Pension Protection Fund (Reference of Reviewable Matters to the PPF Ombudsman) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/2024); and
3. The Pension Protection Fund (Investigation by PPF Ombudsman of Complaints of Maladministration) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/2025).

3. A consultation opened on 28 July on a draft of The Occupational Pension Schemes (Internal Controls) Regulations 2005. This is a very short SI from the DWP (3 pages). It introduces a new s.249A into the Pensions Act 2004, fulfilling a Government undertaking to the House of Lords on 13 October 2004 to require schemes to have adequate internal control mechanisms to ensure compliance with Art. 14(1) of Directive 2003/41/EC (the IORP Directive). It essentially formalises what most schemes already have, as a legal requirement. The consultation closes on Friday 9 September 2005.

4. The DWP has published guidance on the regulatory framework governing Automatic enrolment in workplace pension schemes [PDF]. The guidance sets out the Government’s view of the circumstances in which auto-enrolment into workplace GPPs and stakeholder pensions (not occupational pensions) can be used within current regulations. It covers the Distance Marketing Directive and employment and contract law.

The intention is primarily to advise businesses, and their legal advisers or representatives, of the main regulatory issues they need to be aware of when using automatic enrolment techniques in the workplace. With existing employees, in many cases employers face a substantial hurdle, as they will have to secure employees’ consent to either new or amended contracts of employment. The cost of such an exercise could be significant.