The Police Service of Northern Ireland Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2006

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pensions Regulations 1988 and the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pensions (Purchase of Increased Benefits) Regulations 1988. The amendments include provision for part-time members' pension benefits to be calculated as if they had been full-time members, and then pro-rated for periods of part-time service. This replaces the previous basis of calculation under which part-time working counted as pensionable service on the basis of the actual hours served. This disadvantaged part-time members because the reckonable service is accrued at a faster rate after 20 reckonable years.

Regulation 1 provides that the amendments in relation to ordinary and short service pensions, ill-health pensions, injury awards, deferred pensions and dependants' pensions are backdated to 1st July 1992, the date on which part-time service was introduced. Retrospective effect is permitted by Articles 14 and 15 of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.

Regulation 2 and Schedule 1 make extensive amendments to the Royal Ulster Constabulary Pensions Regulations 1988. Paragraph 1 amends regulation A8 so as to enable pensionable service to be apportioned for the purposes of regulation G6. Paragraph 2 amends regulation B1(3) so as to entitle senior officers who retire at the end of fixed term appointments to qualify for a pension and to so qualify without the terms having been extended or an extension having been refused.

Paragraph 3 extensively amends regulation G6 so as to enable payments to be made by women members to enhance widowers' awards in cases where members with service before 17th May 1990 were not able to elect to make such payments under the regulation because they were not paying contributions throughout the period of 3 months beginning on 1st February 1996 and did not resume paying them within two years of ceasing to do so. Following the amendment such elections may be made within the period of 3 months beginning with the date on which these Regulations come into operation if the woman’s contributions became payable again on or before that date, or, if they became payable again on a later date, within the period of 3 months of that date.

Regulation 2 and Schedule 1 also make provision for the entitlement of part-time members to various awards to be calculated on the new basis described above. The position of members is protected against the possibility that their entitlement to an ill-health pension (in the case of serving and former members) or an injury award (in the case of former members only) might be less than it would have been before these Regulations were made.

Regulation 3 and Schedule 2 provide that payments by part-time members who purchase increased benefits (either through a lump sum or periodical payments) will be up-rated, unless they elect otherwise. Previously part-time members effectively paid lower contributions than full-time members for an entitlement to the same level of benefit.

Regulation 4 provides for interest to be payable on entitlements which arise under the back-dating provisions of these Regulations.

Regulation 5 imposes a limit on the time within which a person entitled to a sum under the back-dating provisions of these Regulations may commute that for a lump sum payment.