The Teachers' Superannuation (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which come into force on 5th December 2005 make amendments to the Teachers' Superannuation (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (“the 2005 Regulations”), and further amendments to the Teachers (Compensation for Premature Retirement and Redundancy) (Scotland) Regulations 1996 (“the 1996 Regulations”) and the Teachers' Superannuation (Additional Voluntary Contributions) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (“the 1995 Regulations”).

The amendments in these Regulations make provision following the introduction of the new status of civil partner by the Civil Partnership Act 2004. The following changes of substance are made.

Regulations 3 and 22 amend regulation C10 of and Schedule 6 to the 2005 Regulations to enable a Scheme member who forms a civil partnership to pay family benefit contributions in respect of periods of his or her service prior to 6th April 1988.

Regulation 4 amends regulation E1 to require a pension to be paid in certain circumstances to a surviving civil partner of a teacher who has a guaranteed minimum (within the meaning of the Pensions Schemes Act 1993).

Regulation 5 amends regulation E14 to enable a teacher to allocate his or her pension to provide an alternative benefit for his or her civil partner.

Regulations 6 and 7 amend regulations E24 and E25 to require any death gratuity or deficiency payment to be paid, in the absence of a nominee, to the teacher’s surviving civil partner in the first instance.

Regulation 8 amends regulation E26 so that a “child” for the purposes of the 2005 Regulations does not include someone who is a civil partner.

Regulation 9 amends regulation E27 so that a civil partner cannot nominate, or be nominated as, a beneficiary to receive a survivor’s pension.

Regulations 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 amend regulations E26 and E28 to E31 to provide for short term and long term pensions to be paid to surviving civil partners of Scheme members.

Regulation 14 amends regulation E32 to provide for the calculation of long term pensions payable to the children of Scheme members who are civil partners.

Regulation 15 amends regulation E33 so that a survivor’s pension ceases to be payable if the survivor forms a civil partnership, or lives with someone as if they were civil partners.

Regulations 16 to 21 amend Part F and Schedule 1 to provide for the pension sharing provisions to have effect on the dissolution of a civil partnership.

Regulation 26 amends regulation 10 of the 1996 Regulations to provide for the period for which short- and long-term compensation is payable to the surviving civil partner of a teacher who was credited with a period of service on termination of employment.

Regulation 27 amends regulation 2(3) of the 1995 Regulations so that “dependant” includes a surviving civil partner.

Regulation 28 makes transitional provision for opting out where rights relating to former teachers or their dependents are adversely affected.

Some Scheme employers are in the business, charity and voluntary sectors. An assessment of the impact on these sectors together with the cost implications to public sector pension schemes of the provision of this instrument is included in the regulatory impact assessment published with the Civil Partnership Act 2004. A copy of that assessment can be viewed at hhtp:/www.dti.gov.uk/access/ria/index/htm#equality.