Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002

Periods of membership: “total membership”

8.—(1) The following periods count as periods of membership –

(a) any period for which a member has paid (or is treated as having paid) contributions under regulation 11, 16 or 17 or 88(5);

(b) any period during which a member is away from work because of illness or injury;

(c) any period which a member is entitled to count as membership under –

(i) Chapter II or III of Part III, or

(ii) regulation 125(1) (periods credited on payment of transfer values);

(d) in the case of a member who belonged to the Scheme before the commencement date, any period he is entitled to count under the Transitional Regulations.

(2) For most purposes a member’s “total membership” is the total of the periods he is entitled to count under paragraph (1), disregarding any period which would otherwise count twice (but see regulations 9, 10 and 34, Schedule 4 and the Transitional Regulations).

(3) A person may not count any period of membership if his contributions for that period have been returned to him and, if all his contributions to the fund are returned to him, he may not count any period of membership credited to him on the receipt of a transfer value.

(4) A person may not count any period of membership if his rights in respect of it have been transferred to a non-local government scheme, a personal pension scheme, a self-employed pension arrangement, a retirement annuity contract or an appropriate policy by payment of a transfer value.

(5) Where a person pays contributions under regulation 17(3) (trade disputes) for any period, that period counts as a period within paragraph (1)(a) even if his contract of employment did not subsist throughout that period.

(6)  Periods of membership before and after any unpaid period of maternity absence or period of parental leave in respect of which the member does not pay any contributions shall be treated as continuous.