Timetable for submission of funding proposals

Wednesday 13 May 2009: Last September, The Pensions Board granted a six month extension to the deadline for defined benefit schemes to submit funding proposals for approval. For some schemes, this extended period expires at the end of June, 2009.

In April, the 2009 Social Welfare and Pensions Act introduced a number of changes to the 1990 Pensions Act. In order to allow pension scheme trustees to consider the effect of these changes and to discuss them with their sponsoring employers The Pensions Board has decided to further extend the deadline for defined benefit schemes to submit funding proposals for approval. The details of the further extension are as follows:

  1. The extension applies to schemes which had a negative Actuarial Statement with an effective date between 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2008 inclusive, or require a funding proposal because of an Actuarial Funding Certificate with an effective date between 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2008 inclusive.
  2. For these schemes, funding proposals must be submitted within two years of the effective date of the Statement or Certificate in point 1 above. (For schemes with both a Statement and a Certificate with effective date in the time period specified in 1, funding proposals must be submitted within two years of the earlier date.)
  3. Trustees who fail to make a submission in time may be liable to prosecution.
  4. No extension is being granted to the deadline for the submission of actuarial funding certificates due to be filed with the Board.

The Pensions Board will shortly publish guidelines for the submission of section 50 or 50A applications. The Board will also announce details of a series of countrywide seminars for trustees, employers, unions and pension advisers to advise on funding issues.