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Finance Bill 2020: clause confirming protected pension age easement added
Practical Law UK Legal Update w-026-3685 (Approx. 3 pages)
Finance Bill 2020: clause confirming protected pension age easement added
| Published on 06 Jul 2020 • United Kingdom |
On 2 July 2020, a clause was added to the Finance Bill 2020 preventing individuals who are re-employed as part of the response to novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from losing their protected pension age.
The Finance Bill 2020 completed its House of Commons Report stage and had its third Commons reading on 2 July 2020 (see Legal update, Finance Bill 2020 Commons Report stage, third Commons reading, first Lords reading and updated version).
The government added a new clause to the Bill to prevent those who are re-employed in response to the pandemic from losing their protected pension age. HMRC had previously announced a temporary concession in respect of a member's protected pension age where a member is re-employed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (see Legal update, HMRC confirms extension of protected pension age easement to 1 November 2020).
New clause 108 confirms this temporary concession by adding a new re-employment condition to paragraph 22 of Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2004. The new provision, which will have retrospective effect from 1 March 2020, provides that a retiree who returns to work will not lose their protected pension age if:
- Their employment began at any time during the "coronavirus period".
- The only or main reason for re-employment was to respond to public health, social, economic or other effects of COVID 19.
The "coronavirus period" is defined as the period between 1 March 2020 and 1 November 2020 but can be extended by regulations to any date falling before 6 April 2021.