Now the key milestone of 6 April has passed - with most of the SIs scheduled to come into force on that date having been laid (just) - DWP is turning its attention to the next milestone for the Pensions Act 2004 (PA 04), 23 September 2005. The most important consultation of all, on the new scheme funding rules, was launched on 22 March, but there are more to come.

A consultation on The Pension Schemes (Categories) Regulations 2005 and The Occupational Pension Schemes (Trust Exemption) Regulations 2005 opened this week and will close on Wednesday 1 June 2005. These draft SIs are mercifully short, and are designed to maintain certain aspects of the current arrangements after the 2004 Finance Act (FA 04) and the IORP Directive 2003/41/EC are in force.

FA 04 and the Directive were the drivers behind s.239 PA 04, which substitutes new definitions of occupational and personal pension schemes into s.1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993. It is felt, however, that these definitions are not perfect. Hence the Categories Regs, which specify that centralised schemes for unassociated employers are occupational pension schemes, and that a stakeholder pension scheme established under trust, but where no employer is required to contribute, is to be treated as a personal pension scheme.

The Trust Exemption Regs concern the requirement of the Directive, implemented by s.252(2) PA 04, that occupational pension schemes must be set up under trust. These draft regs confirm the UK Government's intention to take full advantage of the exemptions permitted by Article 5 of the Directive. They exempt from s.252(2)