Section 6: Funding for pension purposes
12.This section amends sections 9, 10, 27 and 77 of the 2000 Act. The object of the amendment is to split off funding which relates to the Police Service of Northern Ireland Pension Scheme from other Board funding. This is a necessary first step if the Board is to be required to draw up separate accounts for pension funding and for other police funding (see notes on section 7 below). If separate pension funding accounts are prepared, the requirements of the new accounting standard FRS 17 Retirement Benefits (which obliges pension scheme accounts to set out in full the scheme’s assets and liabilities) will apply only to the pension funding accounts, and not to the accounts relating to general police funding. The objective is to prevent the detail required by FRS 17 from overshadowing and drawing attention away from the record of the police’s core financial performance.
13.Subsection (2) amends section 9 of the 2000 Act to provide that separate grants will be made to the Board by the Secretary of State for pension purposes and for all other purposes. Subsections (8) and (9) oblige the Board to place the amounts of each grant, plus any other relevant amounts received by it, at the disposal of the Chief Constable.
14.Subsections (3), (5) to (7) and (10) make consequential amendments to the 2000 Act. Subsection (11) inserts a definition of “pension purposes”.
15.Subsection (12) provides that the new arrangements will have effect from the financial year 2003/04.
