cash balance benefit

268(in COBS 19.11) has the meaning given by section 75 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015, which is that, in relation to a member of a relevant pension scheme or a survivor of a member:

1. (1) a benefit calculated by reference to an amount available for the provision of benefits to or in respect of the member (‘the available amount’) where there is a promise about that amount;
2. (2) the promise mentioned in (1) includes, in particular, a promise about the change in the value of, or the return from, payments made by the member of the relevant pension scheme or any other person in respect of the member.
3. (3) A benefit is not a ‘cash balance benefit’ if, under the relevant pension scheme:
   1. (a) a pension may be provided from the available amount to or in respect of the member; and
   2. (b) there is a promise about the rate of that pension.
4. (4) The promise mentioned in (3)(b) includes a promise that:
   1. (a) the available amount will be sufficient to provide a pension of a particular rate;
   2. (b) the rate of a pension will represent a particular proportion of the available amount.
5. (5) A benefit is not excluded from the definition of ‘cash balance benefit’ by (3) merely because under the relevant pension scheme there is a promise that:
   1. (a) the rate or amount of the benefit payable in respect of a deceased member will be a particular proportion of the rate or amount of the benefit which was (or would have been) payable to the member; or
   2. (b) the amount of a lump sum payable to a member, or in respect of a deceased member, will represent a particular proportion of the available amount.