The Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2007/1166 |
| Year | 2007 |
2007 No. 1166
PENSIONS, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007
Made 3rd April 2007
Laid before Parliament 4th April 2007
Coming into force 1st April 2008
These Regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 7 and 12 of the Superannuation Act 19721.
In accordance with section 7(5) of that Act, the Secretary of State has consulted (a) such associations of local authorities as appeared to her to be concerned; (b) the local authorities with whom consultation appeared to her to be desirable; and (c) such representatives of other persons likely to be affected by the Regulations as appeared to her to be appropriate.
The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations:
Citation, commencement, interpretation and application
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007.
(2) These Regulations apply in relation to England and Wales2.
(3) These Regulations shall come into force on 1st April 2008.
(4) In these Regulations—
“the 1997 Regulations” means the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 19973;
`“the 1997 Scheme” means the occupational pension scheme constituted by the 1997 Regulations;
“appropriate administering authority” means the body maintaining the appropriate fund;
“appropriate fund”, in relation to a member, means the fund into which he pays contributions and from which he receives benefits;
“eligible child” has the meaning given by regulation 26;
“employing authority” means a body employing an employee who is eligible to be a member;
“financial year” means the year ending 31st March;
“nominated cohabiting partner” has the meaning given by regulation 25;
“part-time employee” means an employee whose contract of employment provides—
(a) that he is such an employee for the Scheme, or
(b) who is neither a whole-time employee nor a variable-time employee;
“the Scheme” means the Local Government Pension Scheme 2008 constituted by these Regulations;
“variable-time employee” means an employee whose contract of employment provides that he is such an employee for the Scheme and—
(a) whose pay is calculated by reference to his duties (rather than necessarily by reference to the number of hours he has worked), or
(b) whose duties only have to be performed on an occasional basis; and
“whole-time employee” means an employee whose contract of employment provides—
(a) that he is such an employee for the Scheme, or
(b) that his contractual hours are not less than the number of contractual hours for a person employed in that employment on a whole-time basis.
Active members
2.—(1) An employee of a body listed in—
(a)
(a) Chapter 1 of Part 2 of;
(b)
(b) Chapter 1 of Part 5 of; or
(c)
(c) Schedule 2 to
the 1997 Regulations is an active member of the Scheme.
(2) But a person is not an active member unless he is employed under a contract of employment of more than three months’ duration.
(3) An active member of the 1997 Scheme is an active member of the Scheme for as long as he continues in Local Government Pension Scheme employment.
Contributions payable by active members
3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (9), each active member shall make contributions to the Scheme at the contribution rate from his pensionable pay in each employment in which he is an active member.
(2) Subject to paragraph (4), the contribution rate to be applied to his pensionable pay in any financial year is calculated on the basis of his pensionable pay in the previous financial year in accordance with the following table.
Band |
Range |
Contribution rate |
1 |
£0-£12,000 |
5.5% |
2 |
£12,001-£14,000 |
5.8% |
3 |
£14,001-£18,000 |
5.9% |
4 |
£18,001-£30,000 |
6.5% |
5 |
£30,001-£40,000 |
6.8% |
6 |
£40,001-£75,000 |
7.2% |
7 |
More than £75,000 |
7.5% |
(3) On 1st April 2009, and each subsequent anniversary thereof, the figures in the second column of the table in paragraph (2) (“Range”) are increased as if they were pensions to which the Pensions (Increase) Act 19714applied.
(4) Where a member is employed in any employment for part only of any financial year, the range (and the contribution rate) applicable to him are those that would have applied had he been so employed for the whole of that financial year.
(5) Where a member is a part-time employee, his contributions shall be calculated by multiplying the contributions he would have paid had he been a full-time employee (calculated in accordance with paragraph (2)) by the proportion that the number of his weekly hours bears to the number of weekly hours that he would have worked had he been a full-time employee.
(6) But a term-time worker is not a part-time employee for the purposes of this regulation.
(7) In this regulation, “term-time worker” means a person whose contract of employment provides for a regular pattern of periods of work and periods of no work so as to result in a recognisable cycle of work consisting of one year (but is not limited to persons working in educational establishments).
(8) The amount of an employee’s pensionable pay for the purposes of this regulation is calculated in accordance with regulation 4.
(9) In any event, an active member does not make any contributions after the day before his 75th birthday.
(10) A person who is an active member in more than one employment must make contributions for each of those employments.
(11) His appropriate administering authority may decide the intervals at which the contributions are made.
(12) For this regulation any reduction in pensionable pay by reason of the actual or assumed enjoyment by the member of any statutory entitlement during any period away from work shall be disregarded.
Meaning of “pensionable pay”
4.—(1) An employee’s pensionable pay is the total of—
(a)
(a) all the salary, wages, fees and other payments paid to him for his own use in respect of his employment; and
(b)
(b) any other payment or benefit specified in his contract of employment as being a pensionable emolument.
(2) But an employee’s pensionable pay does not include—
(a)
(a) payments for non-contractual overtime;
(b)
(b) any travelling, subsistence or other allowance paid in respect of expenses incurred in relation to the employment;
(c)
(c) any payment in consideration of loss of holidays;
(d)
(d) any payment in lieu of notice to terminate his contract of employment; or
(e)
(e) any payment as an inducement not to terminate his employment before the payment is made.
(3) No sum may be taken into account in calculating pensionable pay unless income tax liability has been determined on it.
Benefits
5.—(1) Membership of the Scheme only entitles the member to benefits under these Regulations if—
(a)
(a) his total membership is at least three months; or
(b)
(b) a transfer value is credited to him.
(2) But paragraph (1) does not apply to benefits in respect of a member under regulation 23 (death grants: active members), regulation 24 (survivor benefits: active members), or regulation 28 (children’s pensions: active members).
Periods of membership
6.—(1) These are the periods which count as periods of membership—
(a)
(a) any period for which a member has paid (or is treated as having paid) contributions under regulation 3; and
(b)
(b) any period added under regulations 12 or 20.
(2) Where a member who has left local government employment rejoins such employment before his normal retirement age, the periods mentioned in paragraph (1) are (unless he chooses otherwise) aggregated with any such subsequent periods.
Calculation of length of periods of membership
7.—(1) In calculating the length of a period of membership, fractions of years of membership count.
(2) The numerator of such fractions is the number of complete days of membership and the denominator is 365.
(3) Membership in part-time service is counted as the appropriate fraction of the duration of membership.
(4) The numerator of that fraction is the number of contractual hours during the part-time service and its denominator is the number of contractual hours of that employment if it were on a whole-time basis.
(5) The amount of any benefit payable to a member as a result of his membership is his total period of membership multiplied by his final pay and divided by 60.
Final pay: general
8.—(1) Subject to regulations 9 to 11, a member’s final pay for an employment is his pay for as much of the final pay period as he is entitled to count as active membership in local government employment.
(2) A member’s final pay period is the year ending with the day on which he stops being an active member.
(3) In the case of part-time employment, the final pay is the pay that would have been paid for a single comparable whole-time employment.
(4) Any reduction or suspension of a member’s pensionable pay during the final pay period because of his absence from work owing to illness or injury is disregarded.
Final pay: reserve forces, maternity leave etc.
9.—(1) If a member’s final pay period includes reserve forces service leave, his final pay is—
(a)
(a) in a case where he has continued to pay contributions in respect of it, the amount it would have been if his reserve forces pay were pay received in his former local government employment, or
(b)
(b) otherwise, the amount it would have been if he had continued to be employed in his former employment during the period of that leave.
(2) For the purposes of these regulations, a member’s final pay for any period of maternity, paternity or adoption absence during the final pay period in respect of which he pays or is treated as paying contributions is the pay he would have received had he not been absent.
(3) If a...
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