But, speaking at a roundtable event hosted by eValue, Cracknell said TPAS would not be waiting until April to begin its work helping savers figure out what would be best for them. "What we would like to do before [then] is to try and pick up the people who have already notified their providers or their schemes that they are planning to take their benefits in April 2015. The reason we'd like to do that is we are really worried about people doing it and then trying to reverse it. If you take the money out of a scheme there is no going back. A number of people are planning to take the money out of their scheme and they are not aware of the tax implications of it." Following the changes announced at Budget, pensions minister Steve Webb said the move would mean pensioners could withdraw their savings and buy a Lamborghini if they wished, as long as they were aware of the consequences. Cracknell said TPAS is running three pilot schemes around which it will frame its guidance. An initial pilot in partnership with provider Legal & General has begun, while the second is currently underway with an as yet unnamed client, Cracknell said. The pilots will test how many people take out the guidance, what sorts of questions they ask, how long the average call takes and how this matches up with TPAS' experience. Eventually TPAS wants to look at three different pension schemes to contrast its experience with people coming out of contract based schemes and people coming out of trust schemes, she said.
TUPE and pensions: five steps to getting it right
8 October 2014
For an employer that inherits employees under TUPE, getting the pension provision right for the transferring employees can be one of the most complex, and potentially costly, aspects of the transfer.
Thanks to Personnel Today for this report:
Most rights under an occupational pension scheme are excluded from TUPE, so they do not automatically transfer with the employees; however, employers need to be aware of rights that can transfer and of the minimum pension provision they are required to arrange.
We set out five key steps to help transferee employers understand their TUPE and pensions obligations.
1. Investigate the existing pension rights of transferring employees The new employer should attempt to get as full a picture as possible of the pension rights of transferring employees. In practice, this may not always be easy, depending on the circumstances of the transfer. In any event, the transferee should attempt to negotiate protection against the possibility that employees transfer on more generous pension terms than anticipated. 2. Identify whether or not there is an “occupational pension scheme” The general exclusion from the automatic transfer principle under TUPE applies only to benefits under an occupational pension scheme (as defined in the relevant legislation), so the new employer needs to be clear about the type of scheme it is dealing with. If employees are entitled to benefits under a scheme that is not an occupational pension scheme, the new employer may inherit an obligation to make pension contributions at the same level as the previous employer.
3. Check whether or not there are any pension rights that could transfer under TUPE
CIPP Policy News Journal
08/04/2015, Page 394 of 521
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