The National Health Service Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 1998

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 1995 (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for the superannuation of persons engaged in the National Health Service.

Regulation A2 is amended to incorporate further definitions (regulation 3).

Regulation E2(10) is amended in order to remove the overriding cap when a lump sum is paid when early retirement on grounds of terminal ill-health is taken, so that the lump sum is paid in addition to five times the pension (regulation 4).

Regulation 5 disapplies regulation E3 to all providers of piloted services.

Regulation 6 disapplies regulation E4 to all providers of piloted services.

Regulation L4 is amended to enable GP practice staff who were employed by a general practitioner on and before 1st September 1997 to have the option of countinuing their contracts to buy additional service, if they had such a contract before they were compulsorily transferred from NHS employment to employment in a GP practice (regulation 7).

Regulation Q1 is amended so that a member who makes an application prior to 1st September 1997 to buy additional service, but who commences payments on the contract on or after 1st September 1997, may up to and including 31st August 1998 elect that paragraph (6) shall cease to apply to him, and thereby increase the number of added years to be purchased (regulation (6A)). Paragraph (6) shall also cease to apply to a member who makes an application on or after 1st September 1997 to buy additional service and who commences payments on contracts to buy additional service on or after 1st September 1997 (regulation (6B)). In both cases the member must have joined the scheme on or after 17th March 1987 (regulation 8).

Regulation 9(a) inserts new paragraphs (1), (10A), and (10B) into Regulation R4.

New paragraph (1) provides that regulation R4 applies to members who, in addition to being employed by one or more employing authority, or holding two or more separate employments under one employing authority, may be in a single NHS employment at the time of redundancy, provided that they also held another concurrent NHS employment within the 12 months prior to the redundancy date.

Paragraph (10A) provides that a member who has been made redundant and whose last concurrent employment as a practitioner terminated within 12 months prior to the date of redundancy, shall only be entitled to a pension under either regulation E5 or a preserved pension under regulation L1 in respect of his practitioner employment.

Paragraph (10B) provides for an option which is available to a member in respect of officer service which has terminated and to which paragraph 9(1), (6) or (9) of Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations applies.

Regulation R5(5)(a) is amended in order to clarify that in the case of commutation on ill-health retirement the payment of a lump sum of twice the pensionable pay in respect of a part-time member means twice the member’s actual pay and not the notional whole-time pay (regulation 9(b)).

A minor amendment is made to Regulation R8 to correct a reference to Isle of Man legislation (regulation 9(c)).

A new Regulation R11 is added to Part R in order to include providers and performers of piloted services under the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997 in the scheme (regulation 9(d)).

New Regulation R11(a) provides that general practitioners who are on a health authority list prior to the commencement of the pilot scheme, and assistant practitioners, will continue to be treated as practitioners whether they are providing or performing piloted services.

General practitioners who are not on a health authority list prior to the commencement of the pilot scheme will be treated as practitioners if they are providing piloted services, and as officers if they are performing piloted services (new Regulation R11(b)).

All general practitioner providers will be treated as being employed by the relevant health authority for the purposes of the principal Regulations (new Regulation R11(a) and (b)).

The pilot scheme provider is responsible for paying employer contributions for doctors who are pilot scheme employees (new Regulation R11(c)).

A nurse, or any other NHS empolyee, or anyone who was previously a pilot scheme empolyee (other than a doctor), who is providing piloted services will be treated as a whole-time officer employed by the relevant health authority (new Regulation R11 (d)).

Members, other than practitioners, who are performing piloted services will be treated as practice staff for the purposes of the principal Regulations (new Regulation R11(e)).

A minor amendment is made to regulation S1 to correct a reference to Isle of Man legislation (regulation 10).

Regulation S2 is amended to add a new paragraph (15). This paragraph enables practice staff who are in receipt of an NHS pension and who cannot rejoin the scheme or choose to opt out of the scheme not to have their pension abated provided that they were employed by a general practitioner on and before 1 September 1997 (regulation 11).

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 is amended so that there will no longer be an adjustment to a general practitioner’s earnings when he employs an assistant practitioner (regulation 12(1)).

Paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 is amended in order to define pensionable earnings for practitioners who are providing or performing piloted services (regulation 12(2)).

Consequential amendments are made to paragraph 10(6) of Schedule 2 and a new sub-paragraph (7) is added to paragraph 10 to take account of the amendments to paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 (regulation 12(3)).

Paragraph 19 of Schedule 2 is amended in order to provide that a general practitioner provider of piloted services (whether or not his name appears on a health authority list prior to the commencement of the pilot scheme) will be treated as a practitioner if he is absent from work due to illness or injury. A general practitioner performer of piloted services (whether or not his name appears on a health authority list prior to the commencement of the pilot scheme) will be treated as an officer if he is absent from work due to illness or injury (regulation 12(4)).

These regulations do not impose any costs on business.