Registration initial information
Scheme type
For occupational schemes:
- The employer will appoint trustees to run the schemes
- The new scheme will have been registered with HMRC for tax purposes
- The employer must contribute towards the cost of the scheme
For personal schemes:
- The new scheme will have been registered with HMRC for tax purposes
- The employer does not have to take any part in the scheme but may choose to contribute
- Where a personal pension is taken out by individuals or a group (e.g. GPP for an employer) which forms part of an existing registered personal pension scheme, the new arrangement is not required to be registered with the Pensions Regulator
Does the scheme currently have fewer than two members?
If the scheme has less than two members, it's not required to register with the regulator. However, should the numbers ever increase to two or more members, the trustees are legally obliged to inform the regulator.
Is this scheme accepting a bulk transfer from another pension scheme?
Please select yes if your scheme has been set up with a transfer of members and assets from another pension scheme.
Scheme name
This should be the full name of the pension scheme as written in the latest trust deed or any other subsequent amending document. We advise you not to include any scheme reference numbers as part of the scheme name. There is a space to add these details in the section relating to insurance company information.
Scheme address
It's important that you provide the full address - we'll use this address when we need to get in touch with the scheme trustees.
Established date
The date at which the scheme was originally established. May also be known as the 'start date' or 'commencement date'.
Registrable date
The scheme becomes registrable when it has been approved by the HMRC and has more than one member. The earliest possible registration date is 01/04/1991 as this is when the Pensions Registry was set up, so any schemes which met the criteria before this point have a registrable date of 01/04/1991.
Benefit type (occupational schemes only)
A defined benefit scheme (also known as final salary or salary related scheme) is one where the benefits the member will receive are defined without reference to the contributions payable or investment performance accrued eg the benefit the member will receive is defined or known. A common type of defined benefit scheme is one where benefits are accrued for each year the member remains in the scheme (eg one 60th of the member's salary for every year of employment and membership of the scheme). The amount required to provide this benefit is unknown, however the member can easily work out how much they will receive at retirement (eg a member has worked for the company and been a scheme member for 15 years, on a salary of £20,000. Therefore the member would receive a pension of (15/60 of £20,000) = £5,000 a year).
A defined contribution scheme (also known as a money purchase scheme) is one where contributions are usually set amounts (eg £200 per month) or based on salary (eg 10% of salary) which are invested and lead to the accumulation of a fund for retirement. The purchase of the pension benefit is entirely dependent upon the size of the retirement fund and prevailing annuity rates.
A hybrid (mixed benefit) scheme can provide both a defined benefit (final salary) and defined contribution (money purchase) benefit to its members. It may be separated in this way to provide different types of benefits for different people within the scheme. For example, non-executive staff receive a defined contribution pension and executive staff receive a defined benefit pension. If your scheme is a hybrid, please select defined benefit.