Postal Services Bill

House of Commons

Session 2010 - 11
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Other Bills before Parliament

Postal Services Bill

Postal Services Bill
Part 1 — Restructuring of Royal Mail group
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Directions
(1)
This section applies to directions under this Part.
(2)
A direction must be in writing.
(3)
A direction may be varied or revoked by a further direction.
(4)
A person to whom a direction has been given has a duty to comply with it.
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(5)
That duty is enforceable in civil proceedings by the person by whom the
direction was given—
(a)
for an injunction,
(b)
for specific performance of a statutory duty under section 45 of the
Court of Session Act 1988, or
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(c)
for any other appropriate remedy or relief.
Interpretation
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Ownership of companies
(1)
This section applies for the purposes of this Part.
(2)
References to ownership of a company are to ownership of its issued share
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capital.
(3)
References to ownership of a company include indirect ownership of it.
(4)
References to the reduction of the proportion of a company owned by the
Crown include a reduction to nil.
(5)
For the purposes of determining the proportion of any company owned by the
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Crown, property and rights of the Secretary of State or the Treasury (or a
nominee of either of them) are to be regarded as property and rights of the
Crown.
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Part 1: general interpretation
(1)
In this Part—
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“agreement” means agreement in writing,
“company” means any body corporate,
“debt securities” means any instrument creating or acknowledging
indebtedness which is issued by a company (including, in particular,
debentures, loan stock, bonds and certificates of deposit),
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“the original holding company” means the company that was nominated
under section 62 of the Postal Services Act 2000 (transfer of property etc
to nominated company),
“post office” means premises in the United Kingdom from which postal
services, or services provided under arrangements with a government
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department, are provided directly to the public,
“Post Office company” has the meaning given by section 6,
“relevant disposal” has the meaning given by section 2,
“Royal Mail company” has the meaning given by section 2,
“securities”, in relation to a company, includes—
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Postal Services Bill
Part 2 — Royal Mail Pension Plan
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(a)
shares, debt securities and other securities of the company
(whether or not constituting a charge on the assets of the
company), and
(b)
the right to subscribe for, or acquire, such securities and any
other rights in connection with such securities,
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“shares” include stock,
“share rights”, in relation to any shares, means—
(a)
rights to subscribe for or acquire the shares, and
(b)
any other rights in connection with the shares,
“subsidiary” has the meaning given by section 1159 of the Companies Act
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2006, and
“wholly owned by the Crown”, in relation to a company, means the
Crown owns all of it.
(2)
In this Part references to a person providing a universal postal service have the
same meaning as in Part 3 (see section 63(2) and (3)).
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(3)
In this Part references to a company’s post offices (or network of post offices)
are to those post offices (whether or not owned or operated by the company)
that the company is engaged in providing.
(4)
For the purposes of this Part (other than Schedule 2) a company is to be
regarded as being in the same “group” as another company if, for the purposes
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of section 1161(5) of the Companies Act 2006, the company is a group
undertaking in relation to that other company.
Part 2
Royal Mail Pension Plan
Introduction
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Introduction
(1)
In this Part—
“the RMPP” means the Royal Mail Pension Plan,
“qualifying member of the RMPP” means a person who is or has been a
member of the RMPP of a prescribed description,
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“the qualifying time” means the time immediately before such date as
may be prescribed (which may be before the passing of this Act),
“qualifying accrued rights” means—
(a)
any right which, at the qualifying time, has accrued to or in
respect of a qualifying member of the RMPP to future benefits
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under the RMPP,
(b)
any entitlement under the RMPP to the present payment of a
pension or other benefit which a qualifying member of the
RMPP has at the qualifying time, or
(c)
any entitlement to benefits, or rights to future benefits, under
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the RMPP which a person who has survived a qualifying
member of the RMPP has at the qualifying time in respect of the
member.
(2)
For the purposes of the definition of “qualifying accrued rights”—

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Part 2 — Royal Mail Pension Plan
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(a)
references to pensions or other benefits (including future benefits) do
not include money purchase benefits but, subject to that, do include
benefits attributable to additional voluntary contributions, and
(b)
references to a right include a pension credit right.
(3)
In the event that qualifying members of the RMPP include any person (“P”)
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who is in pensionable service under the RMPP after the qualifying time—
(a)
the qualifying accrued rights in respect of P, and
(b)
the amounts payable in respect of those rights,

are to be determined for the purposes of this Part on the assumption that P had
opted, immediately before the qualifying time, to terminate that service.
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Powers exercisable
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Transfer of qualifying accrued rights to new public scheme
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order establish a scheme (a “new public scheme”)
which, in respect of pensionable service under the RMPP before the qualifying
time, provides for pensions or other benefits to be payable to or in respect of
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persons who are or have been qualifying members of the RMPP.
(2)
The Secretary of State may by order make provision for the transfer of
qualifying accrued rights to a new public scheme (without the need for any
approval or consent to the transfer).
(3)
An order under subsection (2) may include provision for the discharge of
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liabilities in respect of the qualifying accrued rights that are transferred.
(4)
A new public scheme may—
(a)
include provision for increasing in particular circumstances the
amounts payable in respect of qualifying accrued rights,
(b)
include provision in relation to any persons who are active members of
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the RMPP which (despite the effect of section 15(3)) differs from the
provision made in relation to persons who are deferred members of the
RMPP,
(c)
include provision for the payment of transfer values, and
(d)
include provision for the transfer of money purchase benefits under the
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RMPP into the scheme (whether or not the contributions to which those
benefits are attributable are made before or after the qualifying time)
and the conversion of those benefits into benefits under the scheme.
(5)
An order under this section may include provision for treating a new public
scheme as an occupational pension scheme for the purposes of any provision
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made by or under any enactment specified, or of a description specified, in the
order.
(6)
An order under this section may include provision for—
(a)
treating a new public scheme as a salary-related contracted out scheme
for the purposes of Part 3 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, and
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(b)
applying any provision of that Part with modifications.
(7)
Provision made by an order under this section may have retrospective effect.
(8)
The Secretary of State may—
(a)
provide for a new public scheme to be administered by any person, and

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(b)
delegate to any person any functions exercisable by the Secretary of
State under a new public scheme.
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Division of the RMPP into different sections
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order make provision for—
(a)
the division of the RMPP into different sections,
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(b)
the participation of different companies in the different sections, and
(c)
the allocation of assets, rights, liabilities or obligations between the
different sections.
(2)
Provision made by an order under this section may have retrospective effect.
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Amendments of the RMPP
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(1)
The Secretary of State may by order make such amendments of the RMPP as
the Secretary of State considers appropriate in connection with any order made
under section 16 or 17.
(2)
The provision that may be made by an order under this section includes
provision authorising or requiring the amount of pensions or other benefits
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payable to or in respect of qualifying members of the RMPP to be determined
in particular circumstances by reference to pensionable service under the
RMPP before and after the qualifying time.
(3)
Provision made by an order under this section may have retrospective effect.
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Protection against adverse treatment
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(1)
Subsection (2) applies to the exercise by the Secretary of State of—
(a)
the power to make an order under section 16 in a case where the order
contains provision establishing a new public scheme or transferring
qualifying accrued rights to a new public scheme, and
(b)
the power to make an order under section 17 or 18.
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(2)
In exercising the power the Secretary of State must ensure that the relevant
pensions provision in respect of each person who is or has been a member of
the RMPP is, in all material respects, at least as good immediately after the
exercise of the power as it is immediately before the exercise of the power.
(3)
“The relevant pensions provision” means the provision for the payment of
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pensions or other benefits which is contained in the RMPP or in a new public
scheme.
(4)
Subsections (1) to (3) do not require provision to be included in a new public
scheme if the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the provision would be
incompatible with any enactment or EU obligation (including any enactment
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applying as a result of any provision made under this Part).
(5)
Nothing in subsections (1) to (3) is to be read as—
(a)
requiring particular provisions of the RMPP or a new public scheme to
take the same or similar form,
(b)
requiring a new public scheme to be established in a particular way,
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(c)
requiring any power or duty conferred or imposed by the RMPP or a
new public scheme to be exercised or performed in a particular way, or

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Part 2 — Royal Mail Pension Plan
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(d)
affecting any power of any person to amend the RMPP or a new public
scheme.
(6)
The power of the Secretary of State to amend a new public scheme may not be
exercised in any manner which would or might adversely affect any provision
of the scheme made in respect of qualifying accrued rights unless—
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(a)
the consent requirements are satisfied in respect of the exercise of the
power in that manner, or
(b)
the scheme is amended in the prescribed manner.
(7)
The consent requirements are those prescribed for the purpose of obtaining the
consent of members of the scheme to its amendment.
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Transfer of assets of the RMPP
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order make provision for the transfer of assets of
the RMPP to—
(a)
the Secretary of State,
(b)
a nominee of the Treasury, or
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(c)
a fund established by the Secretary of State for the purpose of holding
the assets pending their disposal.
(2)
An order under this section may be made only if an order under section 16 is
being, or has been, made.
(3)
An order under this section may include provision for—
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(a)
the delegation to any person of the administration and management of
any fund within subsection (1)(c), and
(b)
the making of payments into the Consolidated Fund.
(4)
This section needs to be read with section 21 (which contains restrictions on the
exercise of the power to make a transfer under this section).
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Restriction on power to transfer assets
(1)
The power of the Secretary of State to make an order under section 20 (a
“transfer order”) must be exercised so as to secure that the ratio of assets to
liabilities of the RMPP immediately after the relevant time is at least equal to
the ratio of the assets to liabilities of the RMPP immediately before that time.
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(2)
“The relevant time” is the time at which the order under section 16 in
consequence of which the transfer order is made has effect.
(3)
For the purposes of this section any reference to the assets or liabilities of the
RMPP is to their amount or value determined, calculated and verified by a
prescribed person and in the prescribed manner.
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(4)
In calculating the value of any liabilities for those purposes, a provision of the
RMPP that limits the amount of its liabilities by reference to the amount of its
assets is to be disregarded.