Judicial Pensions (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 1995
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1995 No. 639
PENSIONS
The Judicial Pensions (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 1995
Made 7th March 1995
Laid before Parliament 9th March 1995
Coming into force 31th March 1995
The Lord Chancellor, and, in relation to judicial offices whose jurisdiction is exercised exclusively in relation to Scotland, the Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 33A of the Judicial Pensions Act 19811and sections 10, 12(2), 23, 29(3) and (4) of and Schedule 2 to the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 19932and with the concurrence of the Treasury, hereby make the following Regulations: —
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Title and Commencement
1.1. These Regulations may be cited as the Judicial Pensions (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 31st March 1995.
Interpretation
1.2. In these Regulations —
“additional voluntary contributions” means any contributions by a member of the scheme constituted under Part I of the 1993 Act or an existing scheme over and above those contributions towards the cost of providing surviving spouse’s and children’s benefits which are required as a condition of membership (whether made by deductions from salary or from a lump sum on death or retirement);
“AVC scheme” means a judicial pension scheme other than a FSAVC scheme providing for the purchase of benefits additional to those provided by the scheme constituted under Part I of the 1993 Act or an existing scheme by means of additional voluntary contributions;
“approved scheme” means a retirement benefits scheme approved under Chapter I, Part XIV of the 1988 Act, or such other legislation as may be in force from time to time in respect of such approval;
“assumed retirement age” means the age, being between the years of 60 and the member’s compulsory retirement age, which a member to whom regulation 2.2(1)(a) applies shall, from time to time, have notified the administrators in writing as being the age at which he intends to retire;
“authorised provider” has the meaning given to it in section 10(8);
“death benefit” means a lump sum payable on the death of a member;
“existing scheme” means a judicial pension scheme other than that constituted by the 1993 Act and which is not a voluntary contributions scheme;
“FSAVC scheme” means a retirement benefits scheme approved under section 591(2)(h) of the 1988 Act established by a pension provider other than the administrators of a judicial pension scheme and to which only the member contributes.
“Index”, at any time, means the index of retail prices published by the Central Statistical Office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or any successor agreed as appropriate by the Board of Inland Revenue, for the calendar month three months prior to that time;
“leading scheme” and “main scheme” shall have the meanings given to them in regulation 2 of the 1993 Regulations;
“normal pension age”, in relation to a member, means the age at which the member would be able to retire from his existing scheme with a pension immediately payable.
“PCSPS” means the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme established under section 1 of the Superannuation Act 19723;
“retirement benefits scheme” has the meaning given to it in section 611 of the 1988 Act;
“the 1988 Act” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19884;
“the 1993 Act” means the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993, and any reference to a Part or section by number alone shall be construed as a reference to the Part or section so numbered in that Act;
“the 1993 Regulations” means the Retirement Benefits Schemes (Restriction on Discretion to Approve) (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 19935;
“qualifying judicial office” means any office for the time being specified in Schedule 1 to the 1993 Act and references to a person holding qualifying judicial office shall be construed in accordance with section 1(6);
“retained death benefits” has the meaning given to it in regulation 2.4.
“voluntary contributions scheme” means an FSAVC scheme or an AVC scheme.
PART II
JUDICIAL ADDITIONAL VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS SCHEME
Interpretation and application
2.1.—(1) In this Part —
“aggregated retirement benefit” shall mean the total amount of all benefits, other than retained benefits, that may be paid to a retired member including the pension equivalent of any lump sum.
“final salary” means the amount of salary received in the twelve months prior to the date of leaving qualifying judicial office that has been assessed for tax under Schedule E under Part V of the 1988 Act.
“the scheme” means the Judicial Additional Voluntary Contributions Scheme constituted by this Part.
(2) The scheme shall be administered in accordance with the regulations set out in this Part.
(3) The administrators of the scheme shall be the administrators of the pension scheme constituted under Part I of the 1993 Act or the administrators of an existing scheme as appropriate.
(4) The pension equivalent of a lump sum shall be calculated by dividing the cash value of the lump sum by 12.
Membership
2.2.—(1) Membership of the scheme shall be open to —
(a)
(a) persons to whom Part I of the 1993 Act applies; and
(b)
(b) persons who hold qualifying judicial office on the appointed day, and who held such office at any time before that day but to whom Part I of the Act does not apply except —
(i) persons to whom Part I does not apply because the person has made an election under section 13 or under the corresponding provisions (as defined in section 13(9));
(ii) the Chief or any other Immigration Adjudicator under the Immigration Act 19716;
(iii) any of the officers from time to time specified in column 1 of Schedule 3 to the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 19787;
(iv) any officer who belongs to a pension scheme constituted under the County Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 19598, the Resident Magistrates' Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 19609or the Judicial Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 195110;
(v) any officer who is a member of the PCSPS, including any person who has made an election under paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Judicial Pensions Act 1981;
(vi) A Commissioner for the special purposes of the Income and Corporation Taxes Acts appointed under section 4 of the Taxes Management Act 197011appointed before 1st January 1985.
(2) Application for membership of the scheme shall be made in writing to the administrators.
(3) Members who fall within paragraph (1)(a) above shall notify the administrators in their application of their assumed retirement age.
Retained benefits
2.3.—(1) The administrators shall require any person who is, or who wishes to become a member of the scheme, to provide such information as the administrators may require, concerning any retained benefits (but not retained death benefits) that that person may have which are derived from the following —
(a)
(a) a retirement benefits scheme which has been approved or for which approval is sought under Chapter I Part XIV of the 1988 Act;
(b)
(b) a relevant statutory scheme as defined by section 611A of the 1988 Act;
(c)
(c) a fund to which section 608 of the 1988 Act applies;
(d)
(d) a retirement benefits scheme which has been accepted by the Inland Revenue as corresponding within the meaning of section 596(2)(b) of the 1988 Act;
(i) (e)
(i) (e) a retirement annuity or trust scheme approved under section 620 of the 1988 Act; or
(ii) a personal pension scheme (as defined by section 630 of the 1988 Act) approved under section 631 of the 1988 Act (other than an arrangement to which only minimum contributions are paid)
which related to relevant earnings from the current employment or previous employments;
(f)
(f) transfer payments from an overseas scheme held in a type of arrangement defined in (a), (b) or (e) above,
including such benefits which have been transferred to another scheme, whether or not in the United Kingdom.
(2) Retained benefits may be disregarded where the total of—
(a)
(a) the resulting annual pension; and
(b)
(b) the pension equivalent of any lump sum payable;
is less than £260.
2.4.—(1) The administrators shall also require details of retained death benefits.
(2) Retained death benefits worth less than £2,500 may be disregarded.
(3) For the purposes of calculating the retained death benefit there shall be ignored
(a)
(a) any benefits representing a return of the member’s own contributions plus interest; and
(b)
(b) benefits derived from a return of surplus funds under annuity contracts approved under section 620 of the 1988 Act or personal pension schemes approved under section 631 of the 1988 Act.
(4) In this regulation —
“retained death benefits” means any lump sum benefits payable on the member’s death derived from the sources set out in sub-paragraphs (a) to (f) of regulation 2.3.
2.5. The administrators may disclose any information obtained relating to retained benefits or retained death benefits to the bodies or persons mentioned in section 10(3)(c) of the Act.
Maximum benefits for members falling within regulation 2.2(1)(a)
2.6. Regulations 2.7, 2.8, 2.9 and 2.10 shall apply to members who fall within regulation 2.2(1)(a).
2.7.—(1) The aggregated retirement benefit shall not exceed the figure equal to the lesser of —
(a)
(a)...
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