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Registered pension schemes

Before 6 April 2006, the framework of occupational pensions and personal pensions, etc generally relied upon the discretionary approval of HMRC. This system of approval operated even before the previous occasion of pensions tax reform in 1970.

Reforms introduced in FA 2004 replaced that system with a statutory framework associated with registered pension schemes. Now there is no compliance check on registration but HMRC can check that all the relevant conditions have been satisfied at a later date.

According to the HMRC Registered Pension Schemes Manual (RPSM):

“A registered pension scheme is a pension scheme that is registered with HMRC. It qualifies for special tax privileges not available to pension schemes that are not registered.”

The RPSM has been superseded by the Pensions Tax Manual (PTM).

The content in PTM031100 tells us that:

“...broadly the pension scheme must:

1. 1)

   be set up by someone with permission from the Financial Conduct Authority to set up either a personal or stakeholder pension scheme, unless the scheme is an occupational pension