IPE: Regulator blocked UK Coal from transferring pension assets to PPF

07 January 2013

The UK's Pensions Regulator (TPR) stopped UK Coal from transferring all or part of its two pension schemes to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

Detailing its involvement in the former state monopoly's decision to restructure and sell a three-quarter share of a new property developer to the trustees of the Industry-Wide Mineworkers' Pension Scheme (IWMPS) and the Industry-Wide Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (IWCSSS), the regulator said it did not consider the transfer of liabilities to the lifeboat fund "appropriate or reasonable".

TPR said UK Coal's initial proposal was to "wholly or partially" transfer pension liabilities to the PPF via a regulated apportionment arrangement (RAA). "This would have severed the group's liability to fund the UK Coal Sections in full or in part and meant that members would have received PPF compensation rather than scheme benefits", it said. The report continued that, following "detailed discussions and consideration of analysis prepared by the trustees' advisers", the regulator decided the action would be inappropriate.

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