What is a code of practice?
• A new regulatory tool of the Pensions Regulator – the code of practice – provides practical guidelines to trustees, employers and others involved in running pension schemes on how to comply with the requirements of pensions law. • Codes of practice are not statements of the law, but they refer to requirements of pensions law, which must be met. For example, trustees do not have to follow a code of practice, but they may incur penalties if they fail to meet the legal requirements. • Codes of practice have evidential value. When determining whether a legal requirement was met, a court or tribunal must take into account any relevant code of practice. • Initially, the Pensions Regulator will issue twelve codes of practice covering areas such as reporting breaches of the law, funding defined benefit schemes, trustee knowledge, understanding and conversance, notifiable events and dispute resolution.
A code of practice is a document that, in some circumstances, has the force of law.Codes generally describe specific requirements, methods or procedures, standards of behaviour or performance measures for various trading situations, and certain equipment that may be used by your business. You may need to comply with codes of practice that are made or referred to under legislation, or as a condition of a licence that is required for your business.Please note, in some circumstances you may only need to comply with parts of the code of practice. It is important that you discuss your intended business with the specified Agency Contact Officer to determine the extent of your compliance obligations.In BLIS, we use the term code of practice to cover guidelines, standards, specifications, requirements, rules, etc.
