United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

(a) in paragraph (1), for "50" substitute "55";

(b) in paragraph (4), delete the words from the beginning of the paragraph up to and including "is less than 85 years,"; and

(c) in paragraph (7), delete the words from "or from such" to the end of the paragraph.

(a) elects to receive the immediate payment of retirement benefits under regulation 31(1) of the principal Regulations; and

(b) satisfies the 85 year rule,

that part of his retirement pension and grant which is calculated by reference to any period of membership prior to the relevant date shall not be reduced in accordance with regulation 31(4) of the principal Regulations (as amended by regulation 5 of these Regulations).

     5. For the purposes of paragraph 4 of this Schedule, the relevant date is - 

(a) in the case of a member who will be aged 60 or more on 31st March 2013, the earlier of - 


(i) 1st April 2013, and

(ii) the date on the day after the day on which the member leaves local government employment; or



(b) in any other case, 1st April 2005.



Other early leavers: other elections under regulation 31

     6. Where a member, who was a member prior to 1st April 2005 and to whom paragraph 2 of this Schedule does not apply, - 

(a) elects to receive the immediate payment of retirement benefits under regulation 31(1) of the principal Regulations (as amended by regulation 5 of these Regulations); and

(b) satisfies the 85 year rule,

that part of his retirement pension and grant which is calculated by reference to any period of membership prior to 1st April 2005 shall not be reduced in accordance with regulation 31(4) of the principal Regulations (as amended by regulation 5 of these Regulations).

(a) his age in whole years on the date his local government employment ends or the date he elects under regulation 31(1) if later;

(b) his total membership in whole years;

(c) in a case where he elects after his local government employment ends, the period beginning with the end of that employment and ending with the date he elects; and

(d) in the case of a person who was a member immediately before 1st April 1998, any qualifying period counted by virtue of regulation 123 which was awarded before 1st April 2005,

is 85 years or more.

     8. Where a member who may elect under regulation 32(1) of the principal Regulations (re-employed and rejoining deferred members) does not do so or does not elect as respects all periods of his membership, in applying paragraph 7 of this Schedule as respects any later membership, his total membership excludes unaggregated periods.

(a) prior to 1st April 2005 elected to make additional contributions to the Scheme to increase his total membership under regulation 55(1) of the principal Regulations (payments to increase total membership); and

(b) was assumed to retire from a local government employment on a date prior to his 65th birthday ("the assumed date") for the purposes of calculating his additional contributions under regulation 55(6) of the principal Regulations.

    (2) Where a member to whom this paragraph applies - 

(a) continues paying the additional contributions until the assumed date; and

(b) retires on or after the assumed date,

he shall not pay any additional contributions after that date and the whole of the additional period may be counted as part of his total membership.

    (3) An additional period counted as a period of total membership as a result of this paragraph shall be treated as a period of membership prior to 1st April 2005.

- to raise the normal retirement date for members who joined the scheme prior to 1st April 1998, to their 65th birthday (regulation 25 of the principal Regulations, as amended by regulation 3);

- to raise the age at which a member will be entitled to the immediate payment of retirement benefits following redundancy from 50 to 55 (regulation 26 of the principal Regulations, as amended by regulation 4);

- to raise the age at which a member can elect to receive early payment of their retirement benefits from 50 to 55 and to provide that where an early leaver retires and elects to receive benefits prior to their 65th birthday, those benefits are reduced by the amounts shown as appropriate in guidance issued by the Government Actuary (regulation 31 of the principal Regulations, as amended by regulation 5); and

- to provide that an administering authority may require an employing authority to make additional payments to the appropriate fund where there is an extra charge on the fund resulting from a pension and retirement grant becoming payable to a member under regulation 26, 31(1) or 31(6) of the principal Regulations (regulation 80 of the principal Regulations, as amended by regulation 9).

The effect of these changes is to remove the "85-year rule" from the Scheme. This allowed benefits to be paid before age 65 without being reduced to reflect the fact that they were being paid early, provided that the member's age and period of Scheme membership totalled 85 years or more.

The Schedule to these Regulations provides for transitional arrangements for members who were members of the Scheme before 1st April 2005. These provide that:

- the minimum age that benefits may be paid will continue to be aged 50 for members who are 50 or more on 31st March 2005;

- benefits accrued prior to 1st April 2013 will not be reduced for members who will be aged 60 or more on 31st March 2013 and who satisfy the 85 year rule and elect to receive their benefits under regulation 31(1); and

- benefits accrued prior to 1st April 2005 will not be reduced for other members who meet the 85 year rule and elect to receive their benefits under regulation 31(1).