Pensions Board to levy fines

The Pensions Board will have the power to issue on-the-spot fines to employers and trustees of pension schemes from next Monday.

The fine for each offence is €2,000 and it will apply to each individual trustee of a pension scheme which does not comply with Pensions Board rules.

The fines are intended to make it easier for the Pensions Board to sanction firms which ignore pensions law, the board's chief executive, Brendan Kennedy, said.

"Given the protracted nature of bringing cases to court, we welcome an alternative means of ensuring that scheme trustees and employers comply with their statutory obligations," he said.

Minister for Social and Family Affairs Martin Cullen has signed the commencement order allowing the Pensions Board to introduce the fines system for less serious infringements of the Pensions Act. Prosecutions will continue to apply to more serious breaches of the Act.

The measures were included in the Social Welfare Act earlier this year but were not activated.

The board has published a checklist which must be followed by employers and trustees. The fines cannot be paid out of the scheme itself and the revenue raised will go to the Exchequer.

If trustees and employers who commit an offence pay the fine within 21 days, the board will not prosecute.