The Teachers’ Superannuation (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2006 No. 366

education

The Teachers’ Superannuation (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Made

13th September 2006

Coming into operation

1st October 2006

The Department of Education makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by Articles 11(1)(1) ), (2), (3) and (3A)(2) of and paragraphs 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11 and 13 of Schedule 3 to the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972(3).

In accordance with Article 11(5) of that Order consultation has taken place with representatives of local education authorities and of teachers and with representatives of other persons likely to be affected.

In accordance with Article 11(1) of that Order these Regulations are made with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel(4).

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Teachers’ Superannuation (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 and come into operation on 1st October 2006.

(2) Regulation 4(a) to (c) (and regulation 3 so far as it relates to it) has effect from 1st June 2006.

(3) Regulation 7 (and regulation 3 so far as it relates to it) has effect from 16th June 2006.

(4) Regulation 8 insofar as it inserts paragraph 5 into Schedule 8 to the 1998 Regulations (and regulation 3 so far as it relates to it) has effect from 1st October 2005.

(5) In these Regulations “the 1998 Regulations” means the Teachers’ Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998(5).

Amendment of Teachers’ Superannuation (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

2.  For Regulation 11(1) and (2) of the Teachers’ Superannuation (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 1996(6) substitute the following—

“(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) the Department shall, on application by a person who has ceased to be a contributor by virtue of regulation 7(2)(b) or (c), pay a transfer value representing the value of investments made under regulation 9(1) or 10(2) to any other registered pension scheme in which the person may be participating (provided that the other pension scheme is willing and able to accept such a transfer).

(2) A transfer value shall not however be paid pursuant to paragraph (1)—

(a) in respect of a person who has ceased to be a contributor by virtue of regulation 7(2)(b), if the person ceased to be a contributor before 6th April 2006 and has not become a contributor again since that date; or

(b) in respect of a person who has ceased to be a contributor by virtue of regulation 7(2)(c) and who ceased to be in pensionable employment before 6th April 2006, unless a transfer value is payable in respect of that person under regulation F1 or F1A of the 1998 Regulations.”.

Amendment of the Teachers’ Superannuation Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

3.  The 1998 Regulations are amended as follows.

4.  In regulation C1—

(a) omit “and” at the end of paragraph (1)(a)(ii) and insert “and” at the end of paragraph (1)(b)(ii);

(b) after paragraph (1)(b)(ii) insert the following sub-paragraph—

“(c) an amount equal to any part of the person’s salary which he has given up the right to receive, pursuant to a salary sacrifice arrangement.”;

(c) after paragraph (14) insert the following paragraph—

“(15) In this regulation—

“salary sacrifice arrangement” means—

(a)

in relation to a person to whom paragraph (1) applies, an arrangement under which the teacher gives up the right to receive part of his gross salary in return for the employer’s agreement to provide him with a benefit in kind under any of the following schemes—

(i)

a child care voucher or any other child care benefit scheme:

(ii)

a cycle or cyclist’s safety equipment scheme; or

(iii)

a mobile telephone scheme; and

(b)

in relation to any other person, an arrangement of the type specified in sub-paragraph (a) in which the employer’s agreement is to provide benefits in kind of an identical description to those specified in sub-paragraph (a).”.

(d) in paragraph (6) after “reduced” insert “before 1st October 2006”.

5.  In regulation E4—

(a) in paragraph (4) for “regulation 9” substitute “regulation 9(1)(b)”;

(b) omit paragraph (12).

6.  In regulation E13 after paragraph (1) insert the following paragraph—

“(1A) This regulation also applies where a person’s entitlement to payment of a teacher’s pension by virtue of regulation 48(1)(c) of the 1977 Regulations took effect under regulation 48A(3) of those regulations before 2nd November 1998 and the person ceases to be incapacitated.”.

7.  In regulation E19—

(a) in paragraph (1) omit “in respect of so much of it as exceeds the person’s guaranteed minimum”;

(b) for paragraph (2) substitute—

“(2) The lump sum is an amount equal to five times the annual rate of the retirement pension.”.

8.  In Schedule 8 after paragraph 4 insert—

“5. A period of employment which a person would be entitled to count as reckonable service under regulation F4A in circumstances where—

(a) the person was given the opportunity to transfer past pension service rights under regulation F4A, but

(b) no transfer value has been accepted in respect of that person.”

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Education on 13th September 2006

Maura McCusker

A senior officer of the

Department of Education

The Department of Finance and Personnel hereby consents to the forgoing Regulations.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Finance and Personnel on 13th September 2006

Fiona Hamill

A senior officer of the

Department of Finance and Personnel

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

These Regulations amend the Teachers’ Superannuation (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 1996 (“the 1996 Regulations”) and the Teachers’ Pensions Regulations 1998 (“the 1998 Regulations”).

Amendment of the 1996 Regulations

Regulation 2 amends regulation 11 to extend the circumstances under which an outward transfer value may be paid.

Amendment of the 1998 Regulations

Regulation 4 amends regulation C1 to provide that where a person has given up the right to receive part of his salary under “salary sacrifice arrangements” as defined, the amount given up counts as contributable salary. Under the power in Article 14(1) of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 this provision, to the extent that it relates to a person who is a teacher for the purposes of Article 11(4) of that Order, has effect from 1st June 2006.

Regulation 5 amends regulation E4 to clarify that a person in respect of whom a direction has been given under regulation 9(1)(a) of the Teachers’ (Eligibility) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 on the basis that the person is unsuitable to work with children can still be entitled to a pension under Case C (incapacity).

Regulation 6 amends regulation E13, which makes provision for a pension to cease to be payable if a person who was entitled to a pension on the basis of incapacity ceases to be incapacitated, to make explicit provision for a person whose entitlement to a pension took effect before 1st April 1998.

Regulation 7 amends regulation E19 so that where a pension is commuted in exceptional circumstances of serious ill health the whole pension, rather than so much of it as exceeds the person’s guaranteed minimum is commuted. Under the power in Article 14(1) of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 this regulation has effect from 16th June 2006.

Regulation 8 amends Schedule 8 to provide that certain types of employment make up “qualifying periods” in circumstances where an inward transfer of past pension service rights could have been made but the person has decided not to transfer the past pension service rights. Under the power in Article 14(1) of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 this provision has effect from 1st October 2005.

(1)

As amended by S.I. 1990/1509 (N.I. 13) Article 13(1)

(2)

As amended by S.I. 1990/1509 (N.I. 13) Article 6(1)

(3)

S.I. 1972/1073 (N.I. 10)

(4)

Formerly Department of Finance: see S.I. 1982/338 (N.I. 6) Article 3

(5)

S.R. 1998 No. 333, as amended by S.R. 2001 No. 149, S.R. 2003 No. 147, S.R. 2005 No. 181, S.R. 2005 No. 495 and S.R. 2006 No. 163

(6)

S.R. 1996 No. 260, as amended by S.R. 2001 No. 149, S.R. 2003 No. 86, S.R. 2005 No. 495 and S.R. No. 2006 No. 163