119.—(1) For sections 8C(1) (requirements as to transfer, commutation etc. for contracting-out), 15 (discharge of liability) and 16 (transfer of accrued rights) and Chapter IV of Part IV (transfer values) of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 and any regulations made under any of those sections or that Chapter, the managers of the Scheme in relation to a member are the Committee.
(2) Despite regulation 2 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Transfer Values) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(2) (pre-1986 leavers), Chapter IV of Part IV of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 shall apply to all members of the Scheme regardless of the date their membership ended.
(3) The references in regulation 4 of those Regulations to regulation 3 of those Regulations include a reference to regulation K7(2) of the 2000 Regulations and any corresponding earlier provisions.
(4) Regulation 5 of those Regulations (treatment of a number of employments as a single employment) only applies if the employments are treated as a single employment for the purposes of the Scheme.
(5) Sub-paragraph (a) of regulation 10(2) of those Regulations (interest on late payment of cash equivalents) does not apply where the member has required the cash equivalent to be paid to a club scheme.
(6) Regulation 18 of those Regulations (termination of pensionable service in certain circumstances to be disregarded) only applies if –
(a)in the case of a termination before the commencement date, no election was made under regulation D12(1)(c) of the 2000 Regulations (or any corresponding earlier provision) in respect of the membership which ended; and
(b)in any case, no election has been made under regulation 34(1) to have the membership which ended aggregated with later service.
120.—(1) The amount of any transfer payment due in respect of a member under Chapter IV of Part IV of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 is payable by the Committee from the fund.
(2) Where such a transfer payment is to be or has been paid from the fund, no other payment or transfer of assets may be made from the fund as respects the accrued rights covered by the transfer payment.
(3) Paragraph (2) overrides anything to the contrary in the former regulations, any other provision of these Regulations or the Transitional Regulations.
121.—(1) There must be deducted from the transfer payment to be made in respect of any person –
(a)the amount of any contributions equivalent premium payable pursuant to section 51 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993; or
(b)an amount sufficient to meet the liability in respect of his contracted-out rights.
(2) But the amount mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) may not be deducted where –
(a)the transfer payment is made to an occupational pension scheme which is contracted-out or an appropriate personal pension scheme; and
(b)that scheme’s trustees or managers undertake to accept liability for his contracted-out rights.
(3) Where the amount mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) is deducted, if the Committee thinks fit, that amount may be used in preserving the liability mentioned in paragraph (2)(b) in the fund.
(4) Otherwise, it must be used in paying the premium.
(5) Contracted-out rights, in relation to a member, are –
(a)his and his surviving spouse’s rights to guaranteed minimum pensions; and
(b)his section 5(2B) rights (as defined in regulation 1(2)) of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Contracting-out) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996)(3).
122.—(1) This paragraph applies where –
(a)two or more members' active membership ends on their joining an approved non-local government scheme (“the new scheme”);
(b)it is agreed by –
(i)the Committee,
(ii)the members' employing authorities (if different), and
(iii)the trustees or managers of the new scheme,
that a payment should be made under this regulation; and
(c)the members agree in writing that that payment should be made instead of any payment which they otherwise might require to be made under Chapter IV of Part IV of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 and waive any rights they might have under that Chapter by virtue of the cessation of their active membership.
(2) The Committee must not give its agreement under paragraph (1)(b) unless it is satisfied that the rights each of the members will acquire under the new scheme are at least equivalent to those which he would have obtained if a transfer value had been paid to the same scheme under Chapter IV of Part IV of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993, as it applies by virtue of regulation 119, (assuming in any case where the member would not be entitled to such a payment that he was).
(3) The Committee must provide each member with sufficient information in writing to check that the requirement of paragraph (2) is satisfied before he agrees as mentioned in paragraph (1)(c).
(4) Where paragraph (1) applies, the Committee must –
(a)set aside (whether in cash or in assets or both) such part of the fund (“the transfer payment”) as an actuary appointed by it and an actuary appointed by the scheme managers of the new scheme for the purpose may agree as appropriate for the acquisition of such rights in that scheme as they may so agree; and
(b)pay or transfer it to the trustees or managers of the new scheme for the benefit of the relevant members.
(5) The Committee must certify to the new scheme’s trustees or managers the amount included in the transfer payment which represents each member’s contributions.
(6) Where a transfer payment is to be or has been made under this regulation, no other payment or transfer of assets shall be made from the fund by reason of membership covered by the transfer payment.
(7) Paragraph (6) overrides anything to the contrary in the former Regulations or these Regulations.
123.—(1) The amount of the transfer payment to be paid under regulation 122 is the amount determined by an actuary appointed by the Committee to be equal to the value at the date the members join the new scheme of the actual and potential liabilities payable from the fund which have then accrued in respect of the members and the persons who are or may become entitled to benefits under the Scheme through them.
(2) The actuary may make such adjustments as he thinks fit in calculating that amount and, in particular, as respects the period from that date to the date of actual payment of the transfer value.
(3) He must specify in his valuation the actuarial assumptions he has used in making it.
(4) The employing authority shall bear the costs of determining the appropriate part of the fund and apportioning the fund.
(5) But if there is more than one employing authority involved, each shall bear such part of the costs as the actuary determines to be appropriate.
124.—(1) If a person who becomes an active member has relevant pension rights, he may request the Committee to accept a transfer value for some or all those rights from the relevant transferor.
(2) Relevant pension rights are accrued rights under –
(a)an occupational pension scheme (other than the Scheme);
(b)a personal pension scheme;
(c)a retirement annuity contract approved by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue under section 620 or 621 of the Taxes Act; or
(d)a self-employed pension arrangement,
but do not include rights to benefits under a scheme, contract or arrangement which are attributable (directly or indirectly) to a pension credit.
(3) Accrued rights include rights to preserved benefits and rights appropriately secured under section 19 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993.
(4) The relevant transferor is the trustees or managers of the scheme, contract or arrangement under which the transferring person’s relevant pension rights arise.
(5) But the relevant transferor for the rights specified in paragraph (3) is the trustees or managers of the scheme, contract or arrangement, or the insurance company, to which a payment in respect of his accrued rights has been made.
(6) A request from a transferring person under paragraph (1) must be made by notice in writing.
(7) That notice must be given before the expiry of the period of 12 months beginning with the date he became an active member (or such longer period as the Committee may allow).
(8) Where a request under paragraph (1) is duly made the Committee may accept the transfer value and credit it to the pension fund.
125.—(1) Where a transfer value has been accepted under regulation 124, the member may count the credited period as a period of membership for these Regulations (but see Schedule 3).
(2) If the transfer value –
(a)is paid by the trustees or managers of a club scheme;
(b)represents all the rights relating to the member in that scheme;
(c)has been calculated –
(i)in a case where Chapter IV of Part IV of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 applies, in accordance with that Chapter, and
(ii)otherwise, in a manner consistent with that prescribed under that Chapter,
the credited period is the period which, if used to calculate a transfer value to be paid by the Scheme, would produce an amount equal to the transfer value received.
(3) If the transfer value is not paid by the trustees or managers of a club scheme, the credited period must be calculated in a manner consistent with that Chapter.
(4) In calculating the credited period under paragraph (3) due allowance must be given for the expected increase in the member’s pensionable pay between the date he became a member (or, if more than twelve months later or such longer period as the Committee may allow, the date on which the transfer value is received) and his normal retirement date or, if earlier, the date on or after the member’s 60th birthday on which the sum of items referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) of regulation 33(4) is 85 years or more.
(5) If the member is a man, the credited period must be treated as a period after 5th April 1978.
(6) If the member is a woman, the credited period must be treated as a period after 31st March 1972.
(7) The Committee must give the member a written notice stating the period of membership he may count under paragraph (1).
(8) The notice must contain a statement of the kind required by regulation 100(2)(c)(i).
126.—(1) Regulation 125(3) does not apply where –
(a)the transferring person is a person about whom information may be given under Article 164(1) of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (mis-sold personal pensions), as it has effect in the case of the Scheme (see regulation 111); and
(b)the transfer value satisfies the conditions specified in paragraph (2).
(2) Those conditions are –
(a)that it is paid by the trustees or managers of the personal pension scheme mentioned in Article 164(1)(a)(ii) of that Order;
(b)that it represents all the rights relating to the member in that scheme;
(c)that it is paid on an application made to the Committee before the expiry of the period of 12 months beginning with the date the transferring person becomes an active member (or such longer period as it may allow); and
(d)that in the opinion of the Committee it is not less than the restitution amount.
(3) Where paragraph (1) applies, the credited period is the period of membership the transferring person could have counted if he had been an active member throughout the personal pension period.
(4) The restitution amount is the aggregate –
(a)of the amount that would be necessary (as at the date on which the request for the calculation of the restitution amount is received by the Committee) to purchase a period of membership for these Regulations equal to the length of the personal pension period on the basis of a transfer from a scheme which is not a club scheme (including the value of rights under the Pensions (Increase) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971(4) and the Pensions (Increase) (Northern Ireland) Order 1974(5));
(b)of the transfer value paid out of the Scheme to the personal pension scheme; and
(c)of interest on any such transfer value at such rate as is approved for the time being by the Government Actuary, calculated over the period commencing with the date on which that transfer value was paid out of the Scheme and ending with the date as at which the transfer value is taken to be paid to the Scheme.
(5) The Committee must determine the amount mentioned in paragraph (4)(a) in such manner as is for the time being indicated in guidance issued by the Government Actuary.
(6) The personal pension period is the period for which the transferring person was eligible to be an active member but in respect of which he made contributions to the personal pension scheme instead.
(7) Where a transfer value has been accepted in relation to a woman to whom this regulation applies and in respect of whom a transfer value has been paid previously by the Committee to a personal pension scheme any part of which transfer value was attributable to membership before 5th April 1988, then the credited period shall be apportioned as membership before 6th April 1988 and as membership after 5th April 1988 in the same proportions as it would have been had the woman become or remained a member of the Scheme throughout the personal pension period.
(8) If in the opinion of the Committee the transfer value does not satisfy the conditions specified in paragraph (2) for the reason only that it is less than the restitution amount, the Committee may accept the transfer value on the basis that the credited period which the member may count is such proportion of the personal pension period as the Committee determines.
127.—(1) Where the member’s transferred-in service exceeds the credited period, he may count the excess as a period which counts towards his total membership for the purposes of the provisions mentioned in paragraph (2).
(2) Those provisions are –
(a)regulation 18(1) (general qualification for benefits);
(b)paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition of “normal retirement date” in regulation 26(3);
(c)regulation 43(4) and (5) (amount of active member’s surviving spouse’s long-term pension);
(d)regulation 88(1) (return of contributions).
(3) A period which may be counted under paragraph (1) counts as its actual length.
(4) The Committee must give the member a written notice stating the period of membership he may count under paragraph (1).
(5) The notice must contain a statement of the kind required by regulation 100(2)(c)(i).
(6) The transferred-in service of a transferring member is the service in respect of which he has accrued rights to benefits under his previous occupational pension scheme or appropriate policy (whether or not the transfer value covers all those rights).
(7) The period of that service is the period certified by the trustees or managers of that scheme or issuers of that policy.
128.—(1) Community scheme transferees and their surviving spouses, dependants and children are entitled to such rights under the Scheme as are specified in guidance issued by the Government Actuary.
(2) A Community scheme transferee is a person who became employed by a Community institution after having been employed in local government employment.
1993 c. 49 Section 8c was inserted by Article 133(5) of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/3213 (N.I. 22))
S.R. 1996 No. 493; the definition of “section 5(2B) rights” was substituted by S.R.1997 No. 160 Schedule 1, paragraph 5