The Postal Services Act 2011 (Transfer of Accrued Pension Rights) Order 2012

Benefits payable in respect of Wholly Transferred Beneficiaries

3.—(1) Any person who, but for the transfer, amendments and discharge under the Benefits Order, would have been in one or more of the categories (a)-(c) below (in each case, whether or not known to the Trustee at any time) immediately after the qualifying time will be a Wholly Transferred Beneficiary—

(a) in receipt of a pension under the RMPP referable to that person’s membership of the RMPP (or membership of any other pension scheme from which that person was transferred to the RMPP);

(b) a deferred pensioner under the RMPP; or

(c) a person entitled to a pension or other benefit under the RMPP (including a pension credit) in respect of or referable to the membership of the RMPP of another person (that other person being the Underlying Member).

A Wholly Transferred Beneficiary will also include any person who, but for the transfer, amendments and discharge under the Benefits Order, would have been contingently entitled to receive a pension or other benefit under the RMPP in respect of any of the persons described in Paragraphs (a)-(c) above immediately after the qualifying time (for the avoidance of doubt this includes, without limitation, dependants and survivors of those persons). A member of the RMPP who comes within the description in either Paragraph (a) or (b) above, or who is an Underlying Member, is a qualifying member of the RMPP for the purposes of Part 2 of the Postal Services Act 2011(1).

(2) Each Wholly Transferred Beneficiary will, from the Commencement Date, have under the RMSPS the same rights and entitlements as applied to them under the RMPP as at the end of the Cut-Off Date, subject to sub-paragraphs (3) and (4) below, other than any rights and entitlements in respect of money purchase benefits which (subject to Clause 10 (Additional voluntary contributions transferred from the RMPP)) shall remain in the RMPP. The rights and entitlements in respect of Wholly Transferred Beneficiaries are (subject to the other Clauses) governed solely by this Clause 3, and Parts II-IX of this Schedule do not apply to them.

(3) Subject to sub-paragraph (4) below, for the purposes of determining the rights and entitlements of Wholly Transferred Beneficiaries under this Clause—

(a) any duty of the RMPP Trustees or an Employer, or any power or discretion which may be exercisable by the RMPP Trustees or an Employer, howsoever expressed, shall be a duty, power or discretion of the Secretary of State; and

(b) any role or function which would under the RMPP have been performed by the “Actuary” (as defined in the RMPP) shall be, to the extent relevant to the RMSPS, performed by the Secretary of State on the advice of the Actuary.

(4) In relation to each Wholly Transferred Beneficiary who is a Member who opted out of the RMPP under General Rule 1A (Optional membership) or Rule 10E (Opting out of the Scheme) of Section C of the RMPP Rules before the end of the Cut-Off Date, and who is in Employer employment—

(a) if the Member is retired from service with an Employer by reason of ill-health or incapacity, that Member’s RMSPS benefits will commence payment as they would have done if that Member had retained his or her benefits in the RMPP; and

(b) the amount of any benefit payable to or in respect of the Member from the RMSPS will be the same as would have been payable from the RMPP if that Member had retained his or her benefits in the RMPP.

(5) Except as expressly provided for in these Rules, where a Cut-Off Date Active has one or more periods of RMPP Reckonable Service that ended on or before the Cut-Off Date, that person shall be treated as a Wholly Transferred Beneficiary (and this Clause 3 shall apply to that person) in respect of his or her rights and entitlements relating to such earlier period or periods of RMPP Reckonable Service, subject to the following—

(a) If the Cut-Off Date Active has a period of RMPP Reckonable Service that ended on or before the Cut-Off Date and which was at the end of the Cut-Off Date treated as continuous with RMSPS Reckonable Service, that person shall be treated as a Cut-Off Date Active (subject to the Section A, Section B, Section C or Section E Rules as applicable) in respect of that period.

(b) In respect of a Section C Active, this Clause 3(5) operates without prejudice to the provisions made in Rule 5 (RMSPS Pension Supplement) of Section C in respect of any Suspended Pre-Cut-Off Date RMPP Pension Supplement that that person may have.

(c) In relation to any person who is or becomes entitled or contingently entitled to receive a pension or other benefits in respect of one or more periods of a Member’s RMPP Reckonable Service that ended on or before the Cut-Off Date, principles that are equivalent to those set out in the preceding provisions of this Clause 3(5) will apply.

(6) If a Cut-Off Date Non-Active is a Plan L Member, that Member had accrued an obligation to pay the amount of contributions due to the RMPP under General Rule 21 (Contributions for widow’s pensions) of the RMPP Rules. The amount of that obligation, as had accrued as at the end of the Cut-Off Date and revalued under the RMSPS as if it were a benefit payable to that Member under the RMSPS, is an Accrued Plan L Amount. The Plan L Member will be treated as owing an obligation to the RMSPS in respect of the Accrued Plan L Amount, to be discharged by one or both of the methods set out in Paragraphs (a) and (b) below. Where both methods are available, the Member will choose the proportion of the accrued amount that will be met by each method, unless the Member has died, in which case the Secretary of State will use the method set out in Paragraph (a).

(a) Under the method set out in this Paragraph, any lump sum benefits payable in respect of the Member from the RMSPS (including any lump sum payable on that Member’s death) will be reduced by the Accrued Plan L Amount (or if the Member also chooses to use the method set out in Paragraph (b), the appropriate share of the Accrued Plan L Amount under the RMSPS).

(b) Under the method set out in this Paragraph, the Member’s Transferred AVC Fund will, as provided for in Clause 10 (Additional voluntary contributions transferred from the RMPP), be applied for the purpose of meeting some or (if the Member also chooses to use the method set out in Paragraph (a)) the appropriate share of the Accrued Plan L Amount.

(1)

2011 c.5.