Member

45A: After Clause 10, insert the following new Clause— “Insolvency within 10 years of payment of surplus: prioritisation of pension scheme above other creditors (1) Where—(a) an employer has received payment of surplus under section 36B of the Pensions Act 1995 (inserted by section 9 of this Act) and goes into insolvency within 10 years of receiving such payment, and(b) at the point of insolvency, the employer’s pension scheme has a deficit,the Secretary of State must, by regulations, make provision to ensure that when the employer sells assets to repay creditors, the pension scheme from which the surplus was initially distributed is paid before any other creditor.(2) In order to fulfil their duty under subsection (1), the Secretary of State may amend the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Enterprise Act 2002 to alter the hierarchy of creditors in the circumstances described in subsection (1)(a) and (b).(3) Regulations under this section are subject to the affirmative procedure.”Member’s explanatory statement This amendment seeks to ensure that, if a company goes into insolvency within 10 years of receiving a payment of surplus from the pension scheme and the pension scheme has a deficit at that point, then the pension scheme must be prioritised as a creditor.