22.— (1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, make a scheme (to be known, and in this section referred to, as the “Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme”) providing for the payment, in accordance with that scheme, of monies to or in respect of relevant pensioners.

(2) The Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme shall contain such provisions as the Minister shall determine and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may make provision in relation to—

(a) the conditions for the application of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme to eligible pension schemes,

(b) the exclusion from the application of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme of such—

(i) schemes or classes of scheme,

(ii) employers or classes of employer, or

(iii) businesses or classes of business,

as may be specified in the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme,

(c) the payment of monies to relevant pensioners under the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme including the conditions upon which those monies are paid,

(d) the terms upon which such monies shall be paid and the conditions in relation to which compliance is required in order for such monies to become payable or for any entitlement to the payment of such monies to accrue,

(e) the terms relating to the calculation by the Minister of such sums payable by the trustees of a participating pension scheme as, in the opinion of the Minister, will fund in full the payment of monies under the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme to or in respect of relevant pensioners of the participating pension scheme,

(f) terms and conditions relating to the payment of sums referred to in paragraph (e),

(g) such other terms and conditions as the Minister considers necessary to ensure that the payments and expenses advanced out of the Central Fund in respect of a particular participating pension scheme will not be greater than the sum paid, in accordance with the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme, by the trustees of that participating pension scheme to the Minister,

(h) such terms and conditions as the Minister considers necessary for the protection of the Central Fund and the growing produce thereof,

(i) terms and conditions in connection with the operation and application of subsection (6), including terms and conditions relating to the repayment to the trustees of a participating pension scheme to which that subsection applies of sums paid by them to the Minister.

(3) Upon the application of the trustees of an eligible pension scheme, the Minister may, at his or her sole discretion and in accordance with the Pensions Insolvency Payments Scheme, certify, in writing, that that scheme is a participating pension scheme.

(4) The Minister shall not certify a pension scheme under this section unless—

(a) he or she is satisfied that the pension scheme concerned is an eligible pension scheme,

(b) the trustees of the pension scheme agree, in writing, to comply with the terms of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme, and

(c) the trustees of the pension scheme agree to pay to the Minister such sum as may be specified by the Minister.

(5) The sum referred to in subsection (4) (c) shall, in respect of each participating pension scheme, be calculated by the Minister in accordance with the terms of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme.

(6) Where the trustees of a participating pension scheme fail or refuse to comply with the terms of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme the Minister may, by notice in writing, inform the trustees of the pension scheme that the pension scheme is no longer a participating pension scheme and, upon the service of that notice, that pension scheme shall cease to be a participating pension scheme.

(7) The Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme shall not make provision for future increases in benefits to relevant pensioners.

(8) The Minister for Finance may, after consultation with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, appoint such person as he or she considers appropriate to make payments, in accordance with the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme, to or in respect of relevant pensioners.

(9) Sums required to be paid by the trustees of an eligible pension scheme, as a condition of its being certified to be a participating pension scheme under subsection (3) or otherwise in accordance with the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister directs.

(10) All monies required for the making of payments in accordance with the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme and for the payment of expenses incurred in connection with the administration of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme F1[shall, with the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be advanced by the Minister for Finance] from the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(11) The First Schedule to the National Treasury Management Agency Act 1990 is amended by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (t):

“(u) section 22(5) of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2009,”.

(12) The Minister shall, not later than 3 years after the making of the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme (if not already revoked under subsection (13)) conduct a review of its operation.

(13) The Minister may make a scheme amending or revoking the Pensions Insolvency Payment Scheme.

(14) A notice under subsection (6) shall be addressed to the trustees concerned by name, and may be served on or given to them in one of the following ways:

(a) by delivering it to the trustees or any one of them;

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the trustees ordinarily reside or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address; or

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the trustees ordinarily reside or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address.

(15) For the purposes of subsection (14), a company within the meaning of the Companies Acts shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body of persons shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

(16) For the purposes of this section, the date of the winding up of a defined benefit pension scheme is the date of the doing of such act, the happening of such event, or the making of such decision as, under the rules of the scheme, requires that the scheme be wound up.

(17) In this section—

“ eligible pension scheme ” means a defined benefit scheme within the meaning of the Principal Act—

(a) the winding up of which has commenced,

(b) the resources of which are insufficient to discharge the liabilities of the scheme on the date of the commencement of the winding up,

(c) certified in writing by the Pensions Board as being a defined benefit scheme that complies with such requirements as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, and

(d) where the employer concerned is insolvent for the purposes of the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984;

“ Minister ” means the Minister for Finance;

“participating pension scheme” means a pension scheme that, for the time being, stands certified under subsection (3);

“relevant pensioner” means, in relation to a participating pension scheme, a person who immediately before the date of the winding up of the scheme was—

(a) in receipt of benefits under the scheme, or

(b) had reached normal pensionable age (within the meaning of the Principal Act) and was entitled to receive benefits under that scheme.