Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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You will appreciate that it is not appropriate for me to comment on matters relating to an individual pension scheme. I am very aware of the serious challenges facing many pension schemes at this time and the efforts being made by both the trustees and the sponsoring employers of these schemes to meet these challenges. You will be aware that I have introduced a number of legislative changes in recent years to assist both trustees and employers meet these challenges.

The Social Welfare and Pensions (No.2) Act 2013 amended section 50 of the Pensions Act to broaden the options available to the trustees of a pension scheme in any consideration of a restructure of pension scheme benefits. Prior to this change, the trustees of a pension scheme could restructure active and deferred scheme member’s benefits and post retirement increases in pension benefits. The change to section 50 of the Pensions Act extends the categories of benefits which can be considered in a restructure of scheme benefits to include a portion of pensioner benefits. This change essentially provides for the sharing of the risk of scheme underfunding across all scheme members.

Any consideration of a restructure of pension scheme benefits under section 50 of the Pensions Act must comply with the provisions in the Act and with guidance issued by the Pensions Board. This guidance makes provision for the notification of all scheme members in advance of any application to the Pensions Board to restructure scheme benefits. In such circumstances, scheme members will have at least one month to make a submission to the trustees of the scheme in relation to such a proposal. The Pensions Board must be satisfied that all the provisions in the guidance are complied with before the Board will consider issuing a notice to restructure scheme benefits.

The issue of how these changes might be applied will be a matter for the trustees of the scheme who are required under trust law to act in the best interests of all scheme beneficiaries.

In relation to the matter of representation by deferred scheme members in consideration of a change to scheme benefits, this is a matter which needs to be considered in a broader industrial relations context. I have written to my colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in this regard.