Pensions Act 1995

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acts of Parliament of predecessor states to the United Kingdom
Acts of English Parliament to 1601 Acts of English Parliament to 1641 Ordinances and Acts (War & Interregnum) to 1660 Acts of English Parliament to 1699 Acts of English Parliament to 1706 Acts of Parliament of Scotland Acts of Irish Parliament to 1700 Acts of Irish Parliament to 1800
Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom
1707–1719 \| 1720–1739 \| 1740–1759 1760–1779 \| 1780–1800 \| 1801–1819 1820–1839 \| 1840–1859 \| 1860–1879 1880–1899 \| 1900–1919 \| 1920–1939 1940–1959 \| 1960–1979 \| 1980–1999 2000–Present
Acts of the Scottish Parliament
Acts of the Northern Ireland Parliament
Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Measures of the National Assembly for Wales
Orders in Council for Northern Ireland
United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

The Pensions Act 1995 is a piece of United Kingdom legislation to improve the running of pension schemes.

Following the death of Robert Maxwell it became clear that he had embezzled a large amount of money from the pension fund of Mirror Group Newspapers. As a result of this a review was established to look into ways that the running of pension schemes could be improved. The end result was the Pensions Act 1995.

The main features of the Act included:

The establishment of the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority;
The Minimum funding requirement to ensure that all pension schemes had a minimum amount of money;
A compensation fund for pension schemes in the event of fraud;
Protection for existing pension scheme benefits so that they couldn't be reduced in the future without member consent having been obtained;
A requirement for pension schemes to have member nominated trustees;
Greater disclosure of information to members;
The introduction of clear documentation showing what should be paid into a scheme, and monitoring of those contributions;
A minimum rate of increases to apply to pension earned after the date on which the Act came into force, once in payment.

Many of the features introduced by the Act were abolished or amended by the Pensions Act 2004.