Definition of employment cessation event
The Department is currently in the middle of a consultation period on possible changes to the employer debt regulations, which finishes on Monday 1st October.
“This consultation enables people from across industry to make their views known to us and we shall work with them to take into account their concerns and the issues they have raised - as with any consultation.
“Some stakeholders have raised concerns in particular about one aspect of the draft regulations, namely the proposed change to the definition of an "employment cessation event".
“Our intention with regard to that suggested change was to tackle the potential problem of scheme abandonment. But it was not the intention to affect legitimate scheme mergers or transfers, or to trigger a "Section 75" debt when a company closes its scheme to future accruals, whilst continuing to fund the scheme.
“We will review the draft regulations in light of all comments coming out of the consultation.”