The National Health Service Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2008
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2008/654 |
| Year | 2008 |
2008 No. 654
National Health Service, England And Wales
The National Health Service Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2008
Made 11th March 2008
Laid before Parliament 11th March 2008
Coming into force 1st April 2008
The Secretary of State for Health makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 10(1) and (2) and 12(1) and (2) of, and Schedule 3 to, the Superannuation Act 19721with the consent of the Treasury2.
In accordance with section 10(4) of that Act, the Secretary of State has consulted such representatives of persons likely to be affected by these Regulations as appear to the Secretary of State to be appropriate3.
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2008.
(2) These Regulations shall come into force on 1st April 2008 and shall have effect from 1st April 2008, except for regulation 62(2) and (3), which shall have effect from 1st April 2003.
(3) In these Regulations—
(a)
(a) an alpha-numerical reference to a regulation is a reference to a provision of the National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 19954bearing that alpha-numeric;
(b)
(b) an alphabetical reference to a Part is a reference to a Part of those Regulations bearing that letter.
Amendment of regulation A2
2. In regulation A2 (interpretation) insert the following definitions in the appropriate place in alphabetical order—
““scheme year” means a period of one year beginning with 1st April and ending with 31st March;”
““section 9(2B) rights” has the same meaning as it has in the Occupational Pension Schemes (Contracting-out) Regulations 19965;”
““tax year” means any year beginning on 6th April and ending on 5th April the following year;”.
Amendment of regulation B2
3. For regulation B2 (restrictions on membership) substitute—
“Restrictions on membership
B2.—(1) A person may not join the scheme if—
(a)
(a) that person is—
(i) under the age of 16; or
(ii) over the age of 75; or
(iii) over the age of 70 on or before 31st March 2008;
(b)
(b) that person is a special class officer over the age of 65;
(c)
(c) that person is eligible to be an active member of a superannuation scheme established under section 1 or 9 of the Superannuation Act 1972 in respect of service in that scheme and is such a member;
(d)
(d) that person holds an honorary appointment and does not at the same time hold any other employment which entitles that person to join the scheme;
(e)
(e) that person is not a practitioner and is employed by a GDS or PDS contractor;
(f)
(f) that person, on or after 1st April 2008, enters NHS employment for the first time and has not previously been a member of the scheme;
(g)
(g) that person, on or after 1st April 2008, returns to NHS employment and was entitled to a refund of contributions under regulation L2 when that person last left employment, unless paragraph (4), but not paragraph (5), of regulation L4 (early leavers returning to pensionable employment) applies to that person;
(h)
(h) that person is a person who—
(i) leaves pensionable employment on, or after, 1st April 2008; and
(ii) before returning to NHS employment, exercises the member’s right to transfer out all of that person’s benefits in the scheme in accordance with regulation M1 or M2;
(i)
(i) that person is a person who has been a member of the National Health Service Pension Scheme governed by the National Health Service Pension Regulations 20086.
(2) In paragraph (1)—
(a)
(a) “NHS Pension Scheme 2008” includes a corresponding health service scheme;
(b)
(b) “pensionable employment” includes employment that qualified the member for a benefit under a health service scheme.
(3) The Secretary of State may permit a person who would otherwise not be permitted to join the scheme in accordance with sub-paragraphs (1)(f) to (h) to do so if—
(a)
(a) that person’s employment is transferred to an employing authority by virtue of a transfer of undertakings or by virtue of arrangements equivalent to a transfer of undertakings (whether or not the transferring employer is in the public sector provided that person’s employment was originally transferred out of the public sector);
(b)
(b) the employment from which the member is transferred—
(i) qualified the member for benefits under an occupational pension scheme, and
(ii) the rules of that scheme (in the opinion of the Secretary of State) entitle the member to receive benefits on retirement upon, or prior to, attaining the age of 60 years.
(4) The reference in paragraph (3)(a) to arrangements equivalent to a transfer of undertakings is to arrangements—
(a)
(a) which the Secretary of State considers to be equivalent to the transfer of an undertaking, and
(b)
(b) under which the parties to the arrangements have agreed that the rights of the persons whose employments are being transferred should as far as practicable be treated in the same way as they would have been under a transfer of an undertaking.
(5) For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b)(ii) a person is not to be treated as being entitled under the rules of a pension scheme to receive benefits upon, or prior to, attaining the age of 60 years, where such entitlement arises by virtue of any scheme rule making special provision—
(a)
(a) as to early retirement on the grounds of ill health, redundancy or otherwise, or
(b)
(b) for benefits to be reduced for early payment.
(6) Before permitting a person referred to in paragraph (3) to join the scheme the Secretary of State shall take advice from the Scheme Actuary.”.
Amendment of regulation B3
4.—(1) Regulation B3 (restriction on further participation in the scheme) is amended as follows.
(2) In paragraph (1) for “regulations B1(1) and B(2)”, substitute “regulation B1(1)”.
(3) In paragraph (2) after “E2(11)”, insert “or E2A(11)”.
Amendment of regulation C1
5.—(1) Regulation C1 (meaning of pensionable pay and final year’s pensionable pay) is amended as follows.
(2) After paragraph (1) insert—
“1A Paragraphs (2) to (4) and (5) to (7) apply in respect of pensionable employment before 1st April 2008.”.
(3) After paragraph (4) insert—
“4A Paragraphs (4B) to (7) apply in respect of pensionable employment on, or after, 1st April 2008.
4B Subject to paragraph (4C), pensionable pay in excess of the permitted maximum will not be ignored.
4C Pensionable pay in excess of the permitted maximum will be ignored in respect of additional service being bought under regulation Q1 and an unreduced lump sum being brought under regulation Q2 if—
(a) the member elected to make such a purchase under regulation Q6(3) from a birthday falling before 1st April 2008; and
(b) the member’s pensionable pay was restricted under paragraph (2) of this regulation before that date; or
(c) the member’s pensionable pay would have been restricted under that paragraph if it had exceeded the permitted maximum.”.
(4) In paragraph (6) for “In these”, substitute “Subject to paragraph (6A), in these”.
(5) After paragraph (6) insert—
“6A If the pensionable pay of a member credited with a period of pensionable service under regulation N2 (transfers made under the Public Sector Transfer Arrangements) or regulation N4 (special terms for transfers in (bulk transfers etc)) has exceeded the permitted maximum and either—
(a) paragraph 20 of Schedule 6 to the Finance Act 19897applied to the member without the modification made by regulation 5 of the Retirement Benefits Schemes (Continuation of Rights of Members of Approved Schemes) Regulations 19908in respect of benefits derived from all or part of that service under another scheme; or
(b) any equivalent scheme provision applied to the member in respect of all or part of that service when that person was a member of the scheme from which the transfer was accepted,
that excess shall be ignored for the purposes of calculating the final year’s pensionable pay under paragraph (6) in respect of the corresponding period of pensionable service credited under regulation N2 or N4.”.
(6) For paragraph (7) substitute—
“7 In this regulation, “permitted maximum” means—
(a) in relation to any tax year before the tax year 2006-07, the figure specified for that tax year in an order made under section 590C of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988; or
(b) subject to paragraphs (8) and (9), the figure for any later year is £108,600.
8 If the retail prices index for the month of September preceding the tax year 2007-08 or any later tax year is higher than it was for the previous September, the figure for that year shall be an amount arrived at by—
(a) increasing the figure for the previous tax year by the same percentage as the percentage increase in the retail prices index; and
(b) if the result is not a multiple of £600, rounding it up to the nearest amount which is such a multiple.
9 If the retail prices index for the month of September preceding the tax year 2007-08 or the month of September preceding any later tax year is not higher than it was for the previous September, the figure for that year shall be the same as for the previous tax year.”.
Amendment of regulation C2
6.—(1) Regulation C2 (meaning of pensionable service) is amended as follows.
(2) After paragraph (2)(d) insert—
“(e)
“(e) in the case of a member who is not a special class officer, any period of pensionable service in excess of 40 years that relates to a period before—
(i) the member’s 60th birthday; and
(ii) 1st April 2008.”.
(3) For paragraph (3) substitute—
“3 Subject to paragraph (2), the benefits described in these regulations will be calculated by reference to a maximum of—
(a) 45 years pensionable service in the case of a member who is not a special class officer;
(b) 45...
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