PART 1Preliminary
Citation and commencement
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme Regulations 2014.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 1st April 2015.
Establishment of the Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme
2. These Regulations establish a scheme that provides for—
(a)entitlement to a lump sum payment and periodical payments when membership of the regular forces ceases and certain conditions as to age and service as a member of the regular forces are met (see regulations 8 to 15); and
(b)entitlement to a lump sum payment, where those conditions are not met but at the time membership of the regular forces ceases the member—
(i)meets certain conditions as to length of service as a member of the regular forces (see regulations 16 to 18); or
(ii)is unfit for service as a member of the armed forces (see regulations 19 to 22).
Governance
3. The provisions of regulations 4 (scheme manager) to 8 (conflict of interest: pension board) of the AFPS 14 regulations are to apply to this scheme and reference in those regulations to “these Regulations” and “this scheme” are to be construed accordingly.
General interpretation
4. In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Public Service Pensions Act 2013;
“active member” has the meaning given in section 124(1) of the Pensions Act 1995;
“AFPS 14” means the Armed Forces Pension Scheme established under regulation 2 of the Armed Forces Pension Regulations 2014;
“AFPS 05” means the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2005 established by regulation 2 of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme Order 2005;
“AFPS 75” means the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 set out in—
“connected scheme” is to be read in accordance with section 4(6) of the Act;
“deferred pension age” has the meaning given in section 10(3) of the Act and refers to the membership of the AFPS 14;
“final pensionable earnings” has the meaning given in regulation 5;
“normal pension age” has the meaning given in section 10(2) of the Act and refers to membership of the AFPS 14;
“qualifying service” has the meaning given in regulation 7;
“regular forces” has the same meaning as in the Armed Forces Act 2006 (see section 374). It does not include those who are recalled for permanent regular service under Part 7 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996;
“reserve forces” has the same meaning as in the Reserve Forces Act 1996(3) (see section 1(2));
“this scheme” means the scheme established by these Regulations;
“scheme actuary” means the actuary appointed by the Secretary of State for Defence to provide a consulting service on actuarial matters relevant to this scheme;
“scheme administrator”, in relation to a member or a function, means the person responsible for the day to day administration of the scheme in relation to the member or in respect of the function;
“scheme manager” means the Secretary of State;
“scheme year” means a period of one year beginning with 1st April and ending with 31st March.
Meaning of “final pensionable earnings”
5.—(1) For the purposes of this scheme “final pensionable earnings”, in relation to any person, means the greatest amount that is the person’s total pensionable earnings for 365 consecutive days falling within the period of 3 years ending with the last day of the person’s service.
(2) Subject to paragraph (4), in paragraph (1) “pensionable earnings” in relation to a person in service as a member of the armed forces means—
(a)basic pay in the service by virtue of which the person is a member for a person of their rank and seniority; and
(b)any other amount if and to the extent that the Secretary of State has determined that it is to be treated as pensionable earnings for this purpose.
(3) Accordingly, subject to paragraph (2)(b) “Pensionable earnings” does not include—
(a)any allowances,
(b)any additional amounts payable in respect of particular qualifications or duties, the location of service or the conditions in which service is temporarily performed, or
(c)without prejudice to paragraphs (a) and (b), any additional amounts payable to medical or dental officers as such.
(4) “Pensionable earnings” does not include any description of payment that the Secretary of State has determined is not to be treated as pensionable earnings, unless it is expressly provided to the person on the basis that it is pensionable earnings for this purpose.
(5) If the person was required to be in service as a member of the armed forces during any period of 365 consecutive days falling within the period of 3 years mentioned in paragraph (1) but was not in service for 365 consecutive days, that paragraph applies as if it referred to the person’s annualised pensionable earnings in the period of service ending with the last day of his service as such a member.
(6) The person’s annualised pensionable earnings in a period of service are the amount given by the formula—
where—
PE is the person’s pensionable earnings for the period, and
N is the number of days in the period for which pensionable earnings were received.
If the period of the final pensionable earnings includes the day 29th February the figure 366 is to be substituted for 365.
(7) If at any time during the period of 3 years mentioned in paragraph (1) the person is treated under regulation 24(meaning of “assumed pay”) of the AFPS 14 regulations as receiving assumed pay or would be if that person were a member of the AFPS 14 throughout that period for the purpose of this regulation, the person’s pensionable earnings for each day during that period when the person is so treated include the assumed pay for that day.
Earnings adjustments in determining final pensionable earnings
6.—(1) For the purposes of determining a person’s final pensionable earnings under regulation 5 (meaning of “final pensionable earnings”) the amount of pensionable earnings, as determined in accordance with regulation 5, for that part of the period of 365 days that falls 365 days or more before the last day of service, is adjusted for earnings, in accordance with paragraph (3).
(2) If the person’s final pensionable earnings are determined, in accordance with paragraph (1), to be an amount for any period in relation to which any adjustment for earnings has been made under this regulation then the person’s final pensionable earnings are to be taken for all purposes to be the amount so determined after that adjustment.
(3) The reference in paragraph (1) to adjusting for earnings the amount of pensionable earnings for part of a period is a reference to increasing it by the same amount as that by which an annual pension of an amount equal to those earnings would have been increased under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 on the day following the last day of relevant service if the pension—
(a)was eligible to be so increased; and
(b)had come into payment on the day following the last day of that period.
Meaning of “qualifying service”
7.—(1) For the purposes of this scheme “qualifying service” means the number of calendar days from the first day of paid service to the last day of paid service, but excluding the following periods—
(a)absence without leave;
(b)service detention;
(c)imprisonment;
(d)unpaid leave.
(2) Periods of qualifying service separated by 5 years or less are to be aggregated for the purposes of this scheme.
(3) Periods of qualifying service separated by more than 5 years cannot be aggregated for the purposes of this scheme.