THE LGPS (MISCELLANEOUS) REGULATIONS 2010
New Regulations laid before Parliament
Tue Aug 31 2010
THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (DCLG) has confirmed the Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous) Regulations 2010 were laid before Parliament on 25 August and will come into force on 30 September 2010.
The Regulations deal with provisions consulted on between 24 December 2009 and 18 March 2010 with the draft copy of the Statutory Instrument (SI) circulated on 25 February, and incorporate some 56 separate changes – mostly technical clarifications to four separate Statutory Instruments which are the main provisions for regulating, and providing benefits to members of, the LGPS in England and Wales.
Attached for information is a copy of the Explanatory Memorandum which was laid in the House along with the SI. This provides a regulation by regulation explanation for the purposes of the House of Lords Committee which examines all secondary legislation, along with a summary of the responses to the consultation exercise.
A significant number of these changes have been introduced either correcting or amplifying regulations in order to make clear the original intention of the current 2007 and 2008 Regulations. In particular, pension administrators may wish to note:
- Changes that deal with the new 3 tiers of ill health retirement and related regulations such as permitting a 3rd tier member to access their ‘suspended’ benefits before age 65 with an actuarial reduction, and some clarifications to improve the overall ill health framework;
- Scheme members’ spouses and civil partners who are awarded a share of LGPS retirement benefits in their divorce settlement, are now permitted to receive such benefits from age 60, rather than age 65, provided that appropriate actuarial reductions are made;
- New rules about aggregating periods of membership when members are re-employed; and
- Changes enabling certain educational establishments to be treated as Scheme Employers in the Fund - ie Academy Trusts and City Technology Colleges and dealing with the impact of the Academies Act 2010 to include new and converter academies;
In addition certain amendments have been made in response to requests made and issues which arose during the course of the consultation:
- charging of pensions increase relative to 2008 LGPS membership;
- restoration of necessary protections for Environment Agency employees who transferred from the Civil Service on 1 April 1996; and
- providing administration process to enable better handling of pensions for Incapacitated Pensioners unable to manage their affairs.
Related Links
