Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) (Amendment) Act 2026

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Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act

8. Section 7 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by the substitution of “occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “occupational pension scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 )”,

(ii) in paragraph (c), by the substitution of “occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 )”, and

(iii) by the substitution of “assets of the occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “assets of the scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 )”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) Where an application under subsection (1) relates to an employer who has become insolvent in the circumstances referred to in section 1(3)(i)—

(a) the application shall be accompanied by a copy of—

(i) the insolvency arrangement, and

(ii) any court order relating to the insolvency arrangement,

and

(b) the Minister shall not make a payment under subsection (1)—

(i) in respect of any amount paid, or to be paid, to the applicant under the insolvency arrangement, or

(ii) in respect of any unpaid pension contribution that is not specified in the insolvency arrangement.”,

(c) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “occupational pension scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990)”,

(d) in subsection (3)—

(i) by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (3A), the sum payable under this section in respect of unpaid contributions of an employer on his own account to an occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “The sum payable under this section in respect of unpaid contributions of an employer on his own account to an occupational pension scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 )”,

(ii) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 )”, and

(iii) in paragraph (b), by the deletion of “(within the meaning of the Pensions Act 1990 )”,

(e) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(3A) The sum payable under this section in respect of unpaid contributions—

(a) to an occupational pension scheme that is a defined benefit scheme (within the meaning of section 2 of the Pensions Act 1990 ), and

(b) that are contributions of an employer to that scheme on the employer’s own account,

shall not exceed an amount calculated in accordance with the following formula:

(A(B/C)) - D

where—

‘A’ is the total remuneration paid by the employer to members of the scheme during the period of twelve months ending on the applicable day,

‘B’ is the total of the contributions paid by an employer on the employer’s own account to the scheme during the reference year,

‘C’ is the total remuneration paid by the employer to members of the scheme during the reference year, and

‘D’ is the total contributions paid by an employer on the employer’s own account to the scheme during the period of twelve months ending on the applicable day.”,

(f) in subsection (4), by the substitution of “occupational pension scheme, Personal Retirement Savings Account or automatic enrolment retirement savings system” for “occupational pension scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 )”,

(g) in subsection (7), by the substitution of “subsection (3) or (3A)” for “subsection (3)”, and

(h) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (8):

“(9) In this section—

‘applicable day’ means the day immediately preceding the date on which the employer became insolvent;

‘automatic enrolment retirement savings system’ means the retirement savings system established under the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 ;

‘member’, in relation to an occupational pension scheme, has the meaning it has in paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘member’ in section 2 of the Pensions Act 1990 ;

‘Personal Retirement Savings Account’ has the meaning it has in section 91 of the Pensions Act 1990 ;

‘reference year’ means a period of twelve months that ends on the day that is twelve months before the applicable day.”.