(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations, which come into force on 5th December 2005, make further amendments to the National Health Service Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (“the Superannuation Scheme Regulations”), the National Health Service (Scotland) (Injury Benefits) Regulations 1998 (“the Injury Benefits Regulations”), the National Health Service Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) (Additional Voluntary Contributions) Regulations 1998 (“the Additional Voluntary Contributions Regulations”) and the National Health Service (Compensation for Premature Retirement) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (“the Compensation for Premature Retirement Regulations”) (together “the principal Regulations”).
The amendments in these Regulations make provision following the introduction of the new status of civil partner by the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33). The changes of substance to the principal Regulations made by these Regulations are described below.
Regulations 2 and 6 to 37 in Part II of these Regulations amend the Superannuation Scheme Regulations as follows:
Regulation 7 amends regulation D2(3)(c) to provide that employers will meet the cost of a surviving civil partner pension where a member’s pension has become payable under regulation E3 (early retirement pension (redundancy etc.)) or E4 (early retirement pension (employer’s consent)).
Regulation 8 amends regulation E9(2) to require a pension to be paid in certain circumstances to a surviving civil partner of a member who had a guaranteed minimum pension (within the meaning of the Pensions Schemes Act 1993 (c. 48)).
Regulation 9 amends regulation F5(3) to require that a lump sum payable on death may be paid to the member’s surviving civil partner except where a member has given notice to the Scottish Ministers that the surviving civil partner is not to receive payment.
Regulation 11 inserts new paragraphs (2A), (2B) and (2C) into regulation G1 and amends regulations G1(4) and G1(5) to provide that widows widowed after 5th December 2005 are subject to regulations applying to cohabitation as civil partners or the formation of a new civil partnership.
Regulation 12 inserts new regulations G10 to G13. Regulation G10 provides for a pension to be payable to surviving civil partners of deceased scheme members. Regulation G11 allows scheme members to nominate the other party to their civil partnership to receive a dependant surviving civil partner’s pension on the member’s death. Regulation G12 allows any officer or a practitioner to purchase an increase in their surviving civil partner’s pension for service prior to 6th April 1988, providing they elect to do so before 28th February 2007. Regulation G13 makes further provisions applying to purchases of increase surviving civil partner’s pension for service prior to 6th April 1988.
Regulations 13 to 17 amend Part H of the Superannuation Scheme Regulations to provide for a dependant child allowance to be paid to children of those members who have formed civil partnerships. The circumstances in which such allowances are paid are the same as for dependant children from a marriage.
Regulations 18 to 20 amend Part J of the Superannuation Scheme Regulations to allow a member to elect to allocate part of their pension to a civil partner and to provide a pension for a dependant surviving civil partner.
Regulations 21 to 23 amend Part K of the Superannuation Scheme Regulations to clarify that the overriding contracting out requirements and rights in respect of guaranteed minimum pensions will also apply to civil partners.
Regulations 24 to 26 amend Part Q of the Superannuation Scheme Regulations to include members who have formed a civil partnership in those who have the right to buy additional service and an unreduced lump sum and who can elect to do so by a single payment.
Regulation 27 amends regulation R3(8) to provide that provisions for surviving civil partners of metal health officers are the same as for widows and widowers of mental health officers. The doubled service provision for mental health officers in regulation R3(5) is not applied in calculating a surviving civil partner’s pension.
Regulation 29 amends regulation S4 so that provision is made for surviving civil partners of members to receive benefits on death where the member is in pensionable employment after their pension becomes payable.
Regulation 30 amends regulation T6 so that the existing forfeiture provisions also apply to surviving civil partners.
Regulation 6, regulations 32 to 35 and regulation 37 respectively amend the interpretation provisions, Part W and Schedule 1A of the Superannuation Scheme Regulations, to provide that pension sharing provisions will apply where civil partnerships are dissolved through a formal court process.
Regulation 36 amends Schedule 1 (medical and dental practitioners) to apply where appropriate to those scheme members who have formed a civil partnership. It also inserts a new paragraph 16A, which provides for the reduction of the retirement lump sum where the member who is in a civil partnership opts to purchase additional cover for a survivor.
Regulations 3 and 38 to 43 in Part III of these Regulations amend the Injury Benefits Regulations as follows:
Regulation 38 amends regulation 7 to provide the basis on which the payment of an annual allowance will be made to surviving civil partners.
Regulation 39 amends regulation 8 to provide that the provisions on dependent child’s allowance also include the dependent children of a civil partnership.
Regulation 40 amends regulation 9 to provide the basis on which a payment of an allowance to a dependent relative of a civil partner will be made.
Regulation 41 amends regulation 11 to include provision for surviving civil partners of a person who qualifies under regulation 6 of receive a lump sum payment on the death of that person.
Regulations 4 and 44 to 47 in Part IV of these Regulations amend the Additional Voluntary Contributions Regulations as follows:
Regulation 44 amends regulation 2(1) to include a surviving civil partner in the definition of “dependant”.
Regulation 45 amends regulation 15 to provide that lump sum payments made under regulations 11(4), 11(7) and 12 of the Additional Voluntary Contributions Regulations can also be paid to surviving civil partners.
Regulations 46 and 47 amend regulation 17A and Schedule 2 respectively to provide that pension sharing arrangements will apply to civil partnerships which are dissolved through a formal court process and to provide that payments of a lump sum on death to a surviving civil partner under regulation 11(2) will occur if the relevant criteria apply.
Regulations 5 and 48 to 50 in Part V of these Regulations amend the Compensation for Premature Retirement Regulations as follows:
Regulation 48 amends regulation 7 to include civil partners in pension allocation arrangements, so that the officer may surrender part of their annual compensation allowance to provide a pension for a surviving civil partner.
Regulations 49 and 50 amend regulations 8 and 9 respectively to allow compensation payments to be made to surviving civil partners.
Regulation 51 makes transitional provision for opting out where rights relating to former employees or officers or their dependants are adversely affected.
A Regulatory Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this Instrument as it has no impact on business, charities, voluntary bodies or any public bodies distinct from that of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 itself. An assessment of the impact on these bodies together with the cost implications to public sector pension schemes is included in the regulatory impact assessment published with the Civil Partnership Act 2004. The final Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Civil Partnership Act 2004 can be viewed at http://www.dti.gov.uk/access/ria/index.htm#equality.