The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013

Made: 12th September 2013

Laid before Parliament: 19th September 2013

Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1

These Regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 7 and 12 of, and Schedule 3 to the Superannuation Act 1972 .

In accordance with section 7(5) of that Act, the Secretary of State consulted such associations of local authorities as appeared to the Secretary of State to be concerned; the local authorities with whom consultation appeared to the Secretary of State to be desirable; and such representatives of other persons likely to be affected by the Regulations as appeared to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations:

PART 1 — Membership, contributions and benefits

Preliminary Provisions

Citation, commencement and extent

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 and save as is mentioned in paragraph (2), come into force on 1st April 2014.

• (2) Regulation 2(3) and the definition of “actuarial guidance issued by the Secretary of State” in Schedule 1 (which require the Secretary of State to consult the Government Actuary's Department before issuing actuarial guidance) come into force on 1st November 2013 for the purpose of enabling the Secretary of State to consult the Government Actuary's Department and to issue guidance to have effect from 1st April 2014.

• (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales .

Introductory

2

• (1) These Regulations establish a scheme for the payment of pensions and other benefits to or in respect of persons working in local government service, referred to in these Regulations as “the Scheme”.

• (1A) In these Regulations “local government service” means employment with a body specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2.

• (1B) A person is deemed to be in local government service for the purpose of these Regulations—

• (a) if that person is employed by a body specified in Part 2 of Schedule 2 and is designated, or belongs to a class of employees that is designated, by that body as being eligible for membership of the Scheme; or

• (b) if that person is specified in column 1 of the table in Part 4 of Schedule 2.

• (1C) The Scheme may potentially relate to a person employed by an admission body.

• (2) The Scheme manager responsible for the local administration of pensions and other benefits payable under these Regulations is referred to in these Regulations as the “administering authority”.

• (3) The Secretary of State may, after consultation with the Government Actuary's Department, issue actuarial guidance to administering authorities.

• (3A) The Secretary of State may issue guidance to administering authorities on the administration and management of the Scheme.

• (3B) Before preparing or revising guidance under paragraph (3A), the Secretary of State must consult such persons as he considers appropriate.

• (4) Schedule 1 (interpretation) contains definitions of expressions used in these Regulations which apply for their interpretation unless the context indicates that they have a different meaning.

Membership

Active membership

3

• (1) Subject to regulation 4 (restriction on eligibility for active membership), a person is eligible to be an active member of the Scheme—

• (a) if working in local government service; or

• (b) if—

• (i) by virtue of regulation 2(1C) (introductory: potential eligibility for membership) the Scheme may potentially relate to that person;

• (ii) a determination under section 25(5) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 has been made in respect of that person; and

• (iii) that person’s employer has designated that person, or a class of employees to which that person belongs, as being eligible for membership of the Scheme.

• (1A) The following functions are delegated to administering authorities—

• (a) the function of making a determination under section 25(5) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (“a determination”), in relation to persons of the description in regulation 2(1C); and

• (b) the function of publishing a list under section 25(9) of that Act of the persons to whom the Scheme relates by virtue of a determination.

• (2) In the case of a person eligible for membership by virtue of regulation 2(1B)(b), the person specified in the second column corresponding to that member is deemed to be that member's Scheme employer for the purposes of these Regulations.

• (3) Subject to paragraph (4), a person eligible to be an active member of the Scheme in an employment becomes an active member on the day that person's employment begins or (if later) the day the person becomes eligible for membership.

• (4) A person who would, apart from this paragraph, be an active member of the Scheme by virtue of paragraph (3) who is employed under a contract of employment of less than three months does not become a member on the day specified in paragraph (3) but becomes an active member—

• (a) on the member's automatic enrolment date,

• (b) on the first day of the payment period following an application to become a member, or

• (c) on the first day of the payment period following an extension to the contract of employment to be for three months or more

whichever is the earliest.

• (5) Where an administering authority enters into an admission agreement with an admission body—

• (a) the admission agreement must comply with the requirements specified in paragraphs 3 to 12 of Part 3 of Schedule 2; and

• (b) these Regulations apply to the admission body and to employment with the admission body in the same way as if the admission body were a Scheme employer listed in Part 2 of Schedule 2.

• (6) A person who is eligible to be an active member in an employment, but who is not an active member in that employment—

• (a) may apply in writing to the person's Scheme employer to join the Scheme, and becomes an active member in that employment on the first day of the payment period following the application; but in any event,

• (b) becomes an active member in an employment on the automatic enrolment date or automatic re-enrolment date relating to that employment.

• (7) Subject to paragraph (8) and regulation 5(5) (person whose membership is less than three months treated as never having been a member), an active member has qualifying service for a period of two years if—

• (a) that member has spent two years as an active member;

• (b) a transfer value payment has been received in respect of rights accrued in a different occupational pension scheme or under a European pensions institution and the length of service in respect of which that person accrued benefits in that scheme was two or more years;

• (c) the aggregate of the period the person has spent as an active member of the Scheme and of a different occupational pension scheme or European Pensions Institution in respect of which a transfer value payment has been accepted, is two years;

• (d) a transfer value payment has been received in respect of rights accrued in a scheme or arrangement that does not permit a refund of contributions to the member;

• (e) the member has paid National Insurance contributions whilst an active member and ceases active membership after the end of the tax year preceding that in which the member attains pensionable age;

• (f) the member already holds a deferred benefit or is in receipt of a pension (other than a survivor's pension or pension credit member's pension) under these Regulations;

• (g) a transfer value payment has been made to a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme; ...

• (h) the member ceases active membership at age 75; or,

• (i) the member dies.

• (8) The following periods do not count as periods of qualifying service for the purposes of these Regulations—

• (a) any period for which contributions have been returned to the member;

• (b) any period of membership derived from a non-contributory pension scheme or arrangement from which a transfer payment has been received and which is attached to the membership in respect of which contributions have been returned under regulation 18 (rights to return of contributions).

• (c) any period in respect of which rights have been transferred to another registered pension scheme other than a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme;

• (d) any period in respect of which the member has been deprived of benefits under regulation 91 (forfeiture of pension rights after conviction for employment-related offences).

Restriction on eligibility for active membership

4

• (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4) the following are not entitled to be active members in an employment—

• (a) a person entitled to membership of another public service pension scheme in relation to that employment;

• (b) a person aged 75 or over; or

• (c) an employee of an admission body who is a member of another occupational pension scheme in relation to that employment.

• (2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply to a person who is entitled to be a member of a National Health Pension Scheme (“an NHS Scheme”) for England and Wales if—

• (a) the person's entitlement to be a member of an NHS Scheme is by reason of employment by—

• (i) a Care Trust designated under section 77 of the National Health Service Act 2006 ,

• (ii) an NHS Scheme employing authority as a result of a prescribed arrangement under section 75 of that Act, or section 33 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 , or

• (iii) the Care Quality Commission as a result of a transfer of employment from the Commission for Social Care Inspection, in connection with its dissolution under Part 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 ;

• (b) the person is designated, or belongs to a class of employees that is designated as eligible for membership of the Scheme in an admission agreement made between an administering authority and one of the bodies specified in sub-paragraph (a)(i) to (iii);

• (c) the person was an active member immediately before becoming employed by one of those bodies; and

• (d) the person is not an active member of an NHS Scheme in relation to that employment.

• (3) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply to a member on reserve forces service leave who is entitled to be a member of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme if the member makes an election to the Scheme employer to remain a member of the Scheme.

• (4) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply to a person who is eligible to join the Scheme by reason of employment described in regulation 3A(1) if—

• (a) the person is designated, or belongs to a class of employees that is designated as eligible for membership of the Scheme pursuant to regulation 3(1)(b); and

• (b) the person is not an active member of any other public service pension scheme in relation to that employment.

Ending active membership

5

• (1) A person ceases to be an active member in an employment if that person ceases to be eligible for membership of the Scheme through that employment and membership in that employment ceases from the date that eligibility ceases.

• (2) A person ceases to be an active member in an employment from the date specified in a written notice given by that person to that person's Scheme employer that the person wishes to leave the Scheme.

• (3) But an active member who gives notice under paragraph (2) specifying no date, or a date earlier than the date the notice is given, ceases to be an active member in that employment at the end of the payment period during which the notice is given.

• (4) A person ceases to be an active member when that person attains the age of 75.

• (5) A person who, by virtue of a written notice given under paragraph (2), ceases to be an active member before being an active member for three months is to be treated as not having been an active member.

Deferred and deferred pensioner members

6

• (1) A person is a deferred member of the Scheme in relation to an employment if—

• (a) the person has qualifying service for a period of at least two years;

• (b) the person is no longer an active member in relation to that employment;

• (c) the person has not started to receive any pension under the Scheme in relation to that employment; and

• (d) the person has not reached the age of 75.

• (2) A person may be a deferred member of the Scheme in relation to one period of membership notwithstanding the fact that the same person is a member in the same or a different category in relation to a different period of membership.

• (3) A person who was in receipt of Tier 3 benefits is a deferred pensioner member of the Scheme whilst those benefits are discontinued under regulation 37(3) or (7)(c).

• (4) A person may be a deferred pensioner member of the Scheme in relation to one period of membership notwithstanding the fact that the same person is a member in the same or a different category in relation to a different period of membership.

Pensioner members

7

• (1) A person is a pensioner member of the Scheme if that person—

• (a) was an active member; or

• (b) was a pension credit member,

and is in receipt of a benefit from the Scheme relating to that membership.

• (2) A person may be a pensioner member in relation to one period of membership notwithstanding the fact that the same person is a member in the same or a different category in relation to a different period of membership.

Pension credit and survivor members

8

• (1) A person is a pension credit member of the Scheme if that person has been given a pension credit in the Scheme as a consequence of a pension debit created under section 29 of the Welfare Reform and Pension Act 1999 in relation to a member of the Scheme.

• (2) A person is a survivor member of the Scheme if that person is entitled to a benefit under regulations 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 or 48 (survivor pensions).

Contributions

Contributions

9

• (1) Subject to Regulation 10 (temporary reduction in contributions) , an active member must pay contributions to the Scheme in respect of an employment at the contribution rate applicable to the annual pensionable pay that member is receiving in the pay period in which 1st April falls for that employment (or in the case of an active member whose membership commences after 1st April in any year, on the annual pensionable pay the member receives at the commencement of that membership).

• (2) The contribution rate applicable to an employment is as specified in the following table, with the contribution rate specified in the third column applicable to the band of pensionable pay specified in the second column into which the active member's annual pensionable pay, rounded down to the nearest whole pound, falls:

Band	Pensionable pay range for an employment	Contribution rate for that employment
1	Up to £13,500	5.5%
2	£13,501 to £21,000	5.8%
3	£21,001 to £34,000	6.5%
4	£34,001 to £43,000	6.8%
5	£43,001 to £60,000	8.5%
6	£60,001 to £85,000	9.9%
7	£85,001 to £100,000	10.5%
8	£100,001 to £150,000	11.4%
9	£150,001 or more	12.5%

• (3) Where there is a change in employment, or a material change which affects the member's pensionable pay in the course of a financial year, the Scheme employer may determine that a contribution rate from a different band should be applied and the Scheme employer shall inform the member of the contribution rate applicable and the date from which it is to be applied.

• (4) On the first day of the pay period in which 1st April 2015 falls, and on the first day of the pay period in which each subsequent 1st April falls, the figures in the second column of the table in paragraph (2) are increased by applying the appropriate increase, rounding the result down to the nearest £100 and adding £1 to the first figure in each band apart from band 1.

• (5) In paragraph (4) “the appropriate increase” means the amount (where it is greater than zero) by which the figures would be increased with effect from the first Monday falling on or after 6thApril of the relevant year if they were pensions beginning on 1st April 2014 to which the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 applied.

• (6) For the purposes of identifying which is the applicable contribution rate under this regulation and regulation 10, any reduction in pensionable pay which arises as a consequence of any of the following circumstances is to be disregarded—

• (a) the actual or assumed enjoyment by the member of any statutory entitlement during any period away from work;

• (b) child-related leave;

• (c) leave of absence with permission;

• (d) sick leave;

• (e) leave due to injury;

• (f) reserve forces service leave; or

• (g) absence due to a trade dispute.

Temporary reduction in contributions

10

• (1) A person may elect to pay reduced contributions in an employment for a period by giving written notice to the member's Scheme employer that the member wishes to do so.

• (2) Where a notice is given under paragraph (1), from the next payment period following the giving of the notice, the contribution rate payable on the member's pensionable pay in relation to that employment is 50% of that which would otherwise be payable under regulation 9 (contributions).

• (3) An active member may cancel the election under paragraph (1) at any time by giving written notice to the member's Scheme employer to this effect.

• (4) Where a notice is given under paragraph (3), from the next payment period following the giving of the notice, the contribution rate payable on the member's pensionable pay in relation to that employment is as provided by regulation 9.