Church of England Pensions Measure 2018

3 Meaning of “pensionable service”

(1) This section and sections 4 to 6 apply for the purposes of this Measure.

(2) “Pensionable service”, in relation either to the past service scheme and a member of it or to an approved scheme and a member of it, means—

(a) stipendiary ecclesiastical service within the meaning of section 4,

(b) service treated as pensionable service under an agreement made under section 5, or

(c) an interval between periods of service which is itself treated as pensionable service by section 6.

(3) “Pensionable service”, in relation to the funded scheme and a member of it, has the meaning given in the rules for the time being in force under that scheme (see section 8).

(4) “Approved scheme” means a pension scheme approved by the Board and the Church Commissioners for the purposes of this Measure.

(5) “Qualifying period of pensionable service” means—

(a) a period of pensionable service of at least two years,

(b) a succession of periods of pensionable service (whether with or without intervals) totalling at least two years, or

(c) where there is a determination under subsection (6), the period or succession of periods to which the determination relates.

(6) The Board may, in exceptional circumstances and with the agreement of the Church Commissioners, determine in the case of a particular individual—

(a) that a period of pensionable service of less than two years should be treated as a qualifying period of pensionable service, or

(b) that a succession of periods of pensionable service (whether with or without intervals) totalling less than two years should be treated as a qualifying period of pensionable service.

(7) Where the qualifying period of pensionable service performed by a clerk, deaconess or licensed lay worker includes a period of service before 1 January 1998 and a period of service after 31 December 1997, the portion attributable to the service in each case is to be calculated without reference to any period of service following the completion of the minimum number of years of service entitling him or her to maximum benefits.

(8) Subsections (5) and (6) and sections 5 and 6, in so far as they relate to the funded scheme and a member of it, have effect subject to the rules which are for the time being in force under that scheme.