Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 November 2017
70. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when proposals on defined benefits schemes for the social welfare pensions and civil registration Bill will be published and the Bill advanced having been first published in May 2017. [50576/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe General Scheme of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2017, which was published in May, contained a number of key measures to respond to the ongoing difficulties in defined benefit schemes and to increase protections for members. The proposals provide for:
i) the introduction of a time limit for submitting funding proposals and for the annual preparation and submission of actuarial funding certificates;
ii) the introduction of a minimum notice period when an employer decides to cease contributions to a scheme; and
iii) the Pensions Authority to direct payment of a funding obligation payable by the employer to the trustees of the scheme where a scheme is in deficit and the sponsoring employer has failed to adequately support the scheme to address the funding deficit.
The amendments will act to support existing provisions in the Pensions Act and will encourage employers to ensure that schemes are well funded and managed.
Taken collectively, the amendments to the Pensions Act seek a middle road between the current position where employers can abandon DB schemes and full and immediate debt on employer provisions. The amendments are designed to ensure the sustainability of DB schemes for scheme members and continued trust in the pensions system as a whole.
Given the technical and complex nature of the provisions in the General Scheme, including the pension provisions, there was not adequate time to include all of these measures in the text of the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 at Second Stage in the Dáil. It is my intention to introduce these amendments to the Bill at Committee Stage.
In addition, I intend bringing forward amendments at Committee Stage to grant a right of entitlement, in certain circumstances, to a spouse’s pension for civil partners and same sex spouses who are members of occupational pension schemes.
Drafting of these amendments is at an advanced stage and I expect to bring them forward for publication in the coming weeks.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
