Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland)

14.—(1) Paragraph 13 shall not apply to benefits consisting in an alternative to a short service benefit provided for under section 69(2)(b) of the Pension Schemes Act, except to the extent that—

(a) that paragraph would apply for the computation of the short service benefit to which those benefits are an alternative; and

(b) the amount of any of the alternative benefits falls to be computed wholly or partly by reference to the value of what would have been the short service benefit.

(2) Section 90 of the Pension Schemes Act (right to cash equivalent) shall have effect as if the provisions of this Part were included for the purposes of that section in the applicable rules.

(3) Subject to sub-paragraph (4), the preceding provisions of this Part override any provision of an occupational pension scheme with which they are inconsistent except a provision which, under subsection (3) of section 125 of the Pension Schemes Act, is a protected provision for the purposes of subsection (2) of that section.

(4) The preceding provisions of this Part shall be without prejudice to any person’s entitlement to exercise—

(a) any right of commutation, forfeiture or surrender of the whole or any part of any benefits computed in accordance with this Part;

(b) any charge or lien on the whole or any part of any such benefits; or

(c) any right of set-off against the whole or any part of any such benefits,

and, accordingly, the computations to be done under paragraph 13 shall be done disregarding anything falling within any of heads (a) to (c).