Why the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is unable to comply with its obligations regarding the payment of employer pension contributi…

Answered Asked by Donald Gorrie LD Lodged 16 Jul 2003

The question

To ask the Presiding Officer why the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is unable to comply with its obligations regarding the payment of employer pension contributions to the personal pensions of MSPs' staff, as required by changes to Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority regulations in April 2001, if it uses the direct debit scheme.

The answer

Answered by Duncan McNeil on 6 Aug 2003 · 21 days after it was lodged, on time

Under theOccupational Pensions Regulatory Authority an employer has obligations to maintain a record of payments made, send a record ofpayments made to the pension provider and pay the correct amount ofcontribution over by the 19th of the month following the pay run in which thecontributions are collected. Under the direct debit scheme, the pensionprovider initiates when and how much to collect. The Scottish ParliamentaryCorporate Body could not, therefore, guarantee that the correct amount was collectedand paid over by the due date, as required under Occupational PensionsRegulatory Authority regulations.

In the Official Report

No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-01566 by reference.