The Funding Standard provisions of the Pensions Act require that Actuarial Funding Certificates for defined benefit schemes be prepared and submitted to the Pensions Board every three years. The purpose of the actuarial funding certificate is to determine whether, in the event that the defined benefit scheme was to be wound-up, the scheme would be solvent i.e. that the scheme’s assets would be sufficient to meet its liabilities. The actuarial funding certificate must be submitted to the Pensions Board within nine months after its effective date.

The Pensions Board treats adherence to the nine-month timeframe very seriously. As recently as 7 September 2009, the Pensions Board successfully prosecuted B&C Engineering for failure to submit an actuarial funding certificate within nine months of the effective date as required. The Cork District Court convicted the company under section 3(1)(a)(i) of the Pensions Act and fined it  €2,500 with 90 days to pay the fine.

This recent case highlights the necessity for strict compliance with the relevant time limits.