2002 No. 519
SOCIAL SECURITY

The Social Security Revaluation of Earnings Factors Order 2002

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming in to force
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 148(3) and (4) and 189(1), (3), (4) and (5) of the Social Security Administration Act 19921 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, having on a review under the said section 1482 concluded, having had regard to earlier orders under that section3, that earnings factors4 for the relevant previous tax years have not, during the period taken into account for that review, maintained their value in relation to the general level of earnings obtaining in Great Britain, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement1.

This Order may be cited as the Social Security Revaluation of Earnings Factors Order 2002 and shall come into force on 6th April 2002.

Revaluation of earnings factors2.

The earnings factors for tax years specified in the Schedule to this Order, in so far as they are relevant5—

(a)

to the calculation—

(i)

of the additional pension in the rate of any long-term benefit; or

(ii)

of any guaranteed minimum pension; or

(b)

to any other calculation required under Part III of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 (including that Part as modified by or under any other enactment),

are directed to be increased for those tax years by the percentage of their amount shown opposite those tax years in that Schedule.

Rounding of fractional amounts3.

Where any earnings factor relevant to the calculation specified in article 2(a)(i) of this Order, as increased in accordance with this Order, would not but for this article be expressed as a whole number of pounds, it shall be so expressed by the rounding down of any fraction of a pound less than one half and the rounding up of any other fraction of a pound.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Maria Eagle
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department for Work and Pensions

SCHEDULE

Article 2

Tax Year

Percentage

1978/79

500.7

1979/80

430.2

1980/81

342.9

1981/82

270.9

1982/83

236.9

1983/84

212.8

1984/85

189.7

1985/86

171.7

1986/87

149.5

1987/88

132.3

1988/89

113.7

1989/90

92.9

1990/91

79.8

1991/92

63.3

1992/93

53.3

1993/94

46.0

1994/95

41.6

1995/96

35.7

1996/97

32.0

1997/98

25.7

1998/99

20.1

1999/2000

15.3

2000/2001

8.5

2001/2002

4.3

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order is made consequent upon a review under section 148 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

This Order directs that the earnings factors relevant to the calculation of the additional pension in the rate of any long-term benefit or of any guaranteed minimum pension, or to any other calculation required under Part III of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, are to be increased for the tax years specified in the Schedule to the Order by the percentage of their amount specified in that Schedule. The percentages specified in this Order for the tax years 2000–01 and 2001–02 are also relevant for the purposes of revaluing state scheme pension credits and debits in accordance with sections 45B, 55A and 55B of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. The percentage for the tax year 2001–02 is 4.3 per cent., and those for earlier tax years have been increased so that the earnings factors for those years are revalued at 2001–02 earnings levels.

The Order also provides for the rounding of fractional amounts for earnings factors relevant to the calculation of the additional pension in the rate of any long-term benefit. Rounding for the purpose of the calculation of any guaranteed minimum pension is not required by virtue of section 23(2) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.

This Order does not impose any new costs on business.