Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Overseas Service (Pensions Supplement) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 1st May 1999.

(2) In these Regulations, "the principal Regulations" means the Overseas Service (Pensions Supplement) Regulations 1995(3).

Amendment of the principal Regulations

2. In regulation 19 of the principal Regulations (overseas increases), at the end there shall be added the following paragraphs:-�

"(4) Where a pension consists of periodical payments, and an authority of an overseas territory makes to the person in receipt of the pension a lump sum payment, the amount of the lump sum shall be treated as an overseas increase of the periodical payments of pension payable during the year beginning at the date when the lump sum falls due to be paid, in accordance with the following paragraphs.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), the amount of the lump sum shall be allocated equally among the periodical payments during that year, and the portion allocated to each payment shall be treated as an overseas increase of that payment.

(6) Where the person entitled to the pension so requests, the Secretary of State may, instead of allocating the amount of the lump sum in accordance with paragraph (5), allocate it to or among one or more of the periodical payments during that year in such portions as he thinks fit, and the portion allocated to each payment shall be treated as an overseas increase of that payment.".

3. In regulation 22 of the principal Regulations (conversion to sterling), at the end there shall be added the following paragraph:-�

"(7) The sterling value of the amount of any lump sum payment referred to in regulation 19(4) which is payable in a currency other than sterling shall be the middle rate on the day when the lump sum is paid in the official exchange market between the other currency and sterling or, if there is no official exchange market, the prevailing exchange rate for current payments on that day.".

4. In Schedule 3 to the principal Regulations, for the entry "1.6.61" in column 6 in relation to Bermuda there shall be substituted "1.4.61".

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Overseas Service (Pensions Supplement) Regulations 1995 ("the principal Regulations"), which provide for payment by the Secretary of State of inflation-proofing supplements on pensions paid to or in respect of certain officers who have served in overseas territories.

Under the principal Regulations the supplement is an amount ("the addition") corresponding to the inflation-proofing increases which United Kingdom civil service pensioners receive under Part I of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971, less an amount ("the total overseas increase") being the sum of overseas increases, that is additions to the amount of the pension apart from supplement under the principal Regulations.

Regulation 2 amends the principal Regulations to cater for the situation where a person is in receipt of a periodical pension and the overseas authority paying the pension gives him a lump sum bonus. The Regulations provide for the amount of this lump sum to be apportioned among the periodical payments of pension during the year following the date when it is due to be paid, and for the allocated amounts to be treated as an overseas increase of each periodical payment. The allocation will normally be among the periodical payments equally, but the Secretary of State has discretion to allocate among the periodical payments on a different basis if the pensioner so requests.

Regulation 3 amends the principal Regulations to provide for conversion into sterling of a lump sum which is payable in a currency other than sterling. This is to be done at the exchange rate on the day when the lump sum is paid.

Regulation 4 corrects an error in the specification of dates relevant to calculation of supplement in Schedule 3 to the principal Regulations.