The DWP concluded another active year, at least on the consultation side, by proposing some minor changes to the operation of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), in draft regulations issued on 19 December.
The draft Pension Protection Fund (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008 include the following provisions:
- trustees of PPF-eligible schemes whose sponsoring employer is an EEA credit institution or insurer may apply for entry to the PPF in the same way as trustees of other schemes whose employers cannot experience an insolvency event;
- the Entry Rules are also amended so the PPF Board can pay compensation to those entitled to benefits under the scheme's rules in respect of deferred members or pensioners who die before the assessment period begins (currently the PPF can only do this in respect of active members);
- the PPF compensation regs are amended to remove the requirement to revalue PPF compensation where the rules of the scheme that transfer into the PPF do not provide for revaluation; and
- the PPF provision of information regs are amended so that any requirement for information to be provided to the member is deemed to be satisfied where it was sent by post to the last known address for that member.
Meanwhile, in conjunction with The Pensions Regulator, the PPF has published a second edition of the Purple Book, containing the latest data and analysis of the final salary pensions landscape. It covers scheme size, industry-type, funding levels, rates of insolvency and the way assets are invested. It also contains new information about the number and size of claims on the PPF, a breakdown of levy payments made by eligible schemes and the number of people benefiting from PPF protection.