§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pension schemes have been closed to new members in each year since 1997; and what the size is of each of the schemes that has been closed. [15149]
§ Mr. McCartneyFurther to the answer given to the hon. Member for Havant on 10 April 2001,Official Report, columns 623–24W, inaccuracies occurred in the information provided. The information in the text of the answer and column (a) were correct at the date of the original answer. The information given in column (c) for years prior to 1990 was unreliable, but was accurate for subsequent years. Information has been subsequently supplied which increases the numbers in columns (a) and (c). The information in column (b) supplied at the time was incorrect. The correct information is contained in table 1.
Table 1 (a) Number of schemes with commencement dates in that year (b) Number of occupational schemes closed within a particular year (c) Number of schemes that wound up in that year 1979 4,781 n/a n/a 1980 4,693 n/a n/a 1981 4,637 n/a n/a 1982 5,723 n/a n/a 1983 6,770 n/a n/a 1984 8,620 n/a n/a 1985 10,974 n/a n/a 1986 11,038 n/a n/a 1987 12,436 n/a n/a 1988 22,299 n/a n/a 1989 11,511 n/a n/a 1990 7,820 n/a n/a 1991 12,881 n/a 657 1992 8,156 n/a 758 1993 6,614 n/a 968 1994 7,541 n/a 1,248 1995 6,614 n/a 1,675 1996 8,354 1— 3,132 1997 6,221 2176 25,525 1998 5,053 283 6,825 1999 3,743 310 8,161 2000 3,502 322 5,596 1 The total number of schemes that closed prior to 2 April 1997 was 2,021. This may include schemes closed before 1979, but still in existence when schemes were required to register in 1991. 2 Figure covers the period 2 April 1997 to 31 December 1997 Column (a) is based on scheme commencement date until 1991 and then registrable date. Schemes with at least two members have been required to register since 1991. Schemes already in existence in 1991 had to provide the date of scheme commencement on registration.
Column (b) shows numbers of schemes closed to new members during the year. The Pension Schemes Registry did not require schemes to provide the date of closure 510W prior to 2 April 1997, although some schemes did. Therefore, in most cases, it is not possible to identify the individual years in which schemes closed prior to this date.
Column (c) is based on the wound-up date of the occupational pension scheme. Many of these schemes will have begun the winding-up process in an earlier year. Figures for years before 1991 are not available.
The Pension Schemes Registry (PSR) records the number of closed schemes (that is schemes closed to new members but which still have active members accruing benefits) but it would be disproportionately expensive to identify the size of each individual scheme. The information in tables 2 and 3 identify the number of schemes according to the membership bands used by the PSR to assess a schemes levy liability.
Table 2: Occupational pension schemes closed from an effective date within each year Levy membership band 19971,2 1998 1999 2000 20013 2–11 72 127 135 106 85 12–99 56 77 69 94 73 100–999 39 65 89 110 71 1000–4999 4 10 12 12 16 5000–9999 4 3 1 0 1 10000+ 1 1 4 0 2
Table 3: Personal Pension schemes closed from an effective date within each year Levy membership band 19971 1998 1999 2000 20011 2–11 0 0 1 0 0 12–99 0 0 0 0 0 100–999 0 0 2 0 0 1000–4999 0 0 0 0 0 5000–9999 0 0 0 0 0 10000+ 1 1 1 0 4 1 The PSR computer system is not able to identify the year of closure of schemes prior to 2 April 1997 2 2 April to 31 December 3 To date 1The PSR computer system is not able to identify the year of closure of schemes prior to 2 April 1997
2April to 31 December
3To date
Notes:
1.Schemes with one member are not required to register and are therefore not included in the figures
2.The schemes listed as closed are those which still have active members