The Judicial Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

Forfeiture: offences committed by members

151.—(1) If a member is convicted of a relevant offence, the Department of Justice may, in agreement with the Lord Chief Justice and to the extent that they both consider appropriate, withhold benefits payable under this scheme to or in respect of the member.

(2) Paragraph (3) applies if benefits are to be withheld as a result of an offence falling within paragraph (b) of the definition of “relevant offence”.

(3) The Department of Justice may only withhold that part of a person’s pension that exceeds any guaranteed minimum to which the person is entitled under—

(a) section 10 (earner’s guaranteed minimum) of the 1993 Act; or

(b) section 13(1)(minimum pension for widows and widowers ) of that Act.

(4) In this regulation—

“forfeiture certificate” means a certificate stating that the Department of Justice and the Lord Chief Justice issuing the certificate consider that the offence—

(a)

has been gravely injurious to the administration of justice; or

(b)

is liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the judiciary; and

“relevant offence” means—

(a)

one or more offences under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989 for which the member has been sentenced on the same occasion to—

(i)

a term of imprisonment of at least 10 years; or

(ii)

2 or more consecutive terms of imprisonment which add up to at least 10 years;

(b)

offences committed in connection with service in qualifying judicial office and in respect of which the Department of Justice and the Lord Chief Justice have issued a forfeiture certificate.

(1)

Section 13 was amended by the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/671) Article 3, Schedule 1 paragraph 42, the Civil Partnership (Contracted-out Occupational and Appropriate Personal Pension Schemes) (Surviving Civil Partners) Order (Northern Ireland) 2005 (S.R. 2005 No. 433) Schedule 1, paragraph 5, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 (c. 4) (N.I.) sections 52, 67, Schedule 5 paragraph 1, Schedule 3, paragraph 3, the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/255) (N.I. 1) Article 261(2), the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (c. 1(N.I.)) section 12(2).