The word ‘switch’ has come to be used to describe a variety of operations in connexion with pension schemes. A scheme may be ‘switched’ from one life office to another; a scheme may be ‘switched’ from without-profits to with-profits; or the two operations may be combined. This paper attempts to deal, however, with an operation which is the direct result of the Finance Act 1956—the switching of a scheme approved under Section 388(1) of the Income Tax Act 1952 to a scheme approved under Section 379 of the same Act—and it is assumed that the operation takes place within the one life office.

The operation in question has its origin in the somewhat detached view of life taken by our legislators and by the administrators whose duty it is to advise them.