The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997

UK Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1612 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created

0recorded in force

0revoked

Made: 30 June 1997
In force from: 1 April 1998
Extent: Not stated
Subject: Corporate, financial services, company law, employment, charity, electoral and tax
Made under: Superannuation Act 1972

Explanatory note

(This Note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These regulations replace the provisions of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/1019) and constitute the occupational pension scheme for persons engaged in local government employment (other than teachers, policemen and firemen) who are active members of the Scheme on or after 1st April 1998, and replace them in part for other members in accordance with the Local Government Pension Scheme (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/1613). The main changes are as follows— Part II the restrictions on eligibility for membership have been simplified to exclude only those who have access to another occupational pension scheme or are part-time firemen from membership; regulation 12 sets a standardised contribution rate of 6 per cent. for all new members, while regulation 14 protects the position of existing members currently paying contributions at the rate of 5 per cent.; regulation 15 gives employers a new discretion to reduce or waive a member's contribution rate once 40 years of local government employment have been served; regulations 16, 24, 51 and Schedule 4 set out overriding Inland Revenue limits; regulations 21 to 23 define final pay and make provision for protecting the value of a member's pension following a change in the circumstances of employment; regulation 25 defines the normal retirement age for new members as 65 but protects the position of existing members who may retire between the ages of 60 and 65; regulation 31 gives members aged at least 50 the right to apply for early payment of scheme benefits (subject, in the case of members aged less than 60 to the consent of the employer); regulation 32 places the onus on a deferred member to elect to carry earlier periods of membership forward on rejoining the Scheme, enabling an election to be made at any time during the fresh spell of membership; regulation 38 provides for a grant on the death of active members of two years’ pay; for pensioners there is a standardised death grant of five times the annual pension; regulations 40 to 43 set out the arrangements for spouse’s pensions which are payable for the life of the beneficiary; regulations 44 to 48 provide a simplified structure for the payment of children’s pensions; Part III regulation 52 gives employers a new discretionary power to augment scheme membership by up to 6 years on the termination of a member's employment; regulations 58 and 59 allow for the conversion of the retirement grant to pension or vice versa; regulations 60 to 66 set out a simplified structure for the payment of additional voluntary contributions and give the member the option to transfer the accumulated value of the contributions into additional scheme membership; regulations 67 to 72 allow employers to operate a shared-cost additional voluntary contributions scheme and give members the option to transfer the accumulated value of the contributions into additional scheme membership; Part IV regulation 78 gives administering authorities the power to set revised contribution rates for employers with immediate effect where the costs to the fund exceed the assumptions stated in the rates and adjustment certificate which would otherwise determine these rates; regulation 82 gives administering authorities the power to charge interest where an authority is more than one month overdue in making certain payments; regulations 109 and 110 give administering authorities the discretion to decide their own abatement policy; regulations 116 to 120 apply the provisions in the Pension Schemes Act 1993 about transfers of rights out of occupational pension schemes with a few modifications and enable an alternative basis to be used for bulk transfers out; regulations 121 to 126 set out a simplified procedure for transferring rights into the Scheme, operating on a cash equivalent transfer basis, and provide for adjustments between funds where internal transfers occur; regulation 143 gives employers the discretion to convert awards made under the Local Government (Discretionary Payments) Regulations 1996 into Scheme membership.

Offences created by this instrument

A relevant offence is an offence, committed in connection with an employment in which the person convicted is a… regulation 111(3) · Status not determined · Strict liability

What Parliament said about it

Contributions, debates and written statements mentioning this instrument by name. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Council Pension Benefits Commons · Westminster Hall · 26 July 2000 · The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Ms Beverley Hughes)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon (Ms Drown) for raising the subject of local government pension funds. I agree with her that it is an important subject, and well worth discussing. This debate will give me the opportunity to explain some of the important issues involved—some of which she may not have mentioned in her speech—and to set the record straight on some of her other contentions. It may be helpful if I begin by explaining how the local government pension scheme works, and the Government's role. I shall then deal with the specific problem of Swindon and its…
Local Authority Allowances And Pensions Commons · Written Statements · 7 April 2003
The Local Government Pension Scheme and Discretionary Compensation (Local Authority Members in England) Regulations 2003 modify the Principal regulations, The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997. They are intrinsically linked to the allowances Regulations. In effect the amendments provide access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to those Councillor members' whose authorities, acting on the recommendations of the locally appointed Independent Review Panel (IRP), decide should be eligible for membership.
City of London Corporation: Pensions Commons · Commons Chamber · 22 February 2018 · Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab)
I would rather not be here this evening speaking in this Adjournment debate, not because I do not care about the issue very much, and particularly about my constituent, Mr Clifford Bell, but because I believe that it is such a simple matter that it should have been resolved years ago. It has not been, and I gave a commitment to my constituent that I would bring it to the House in an Adjournment debate. I want to begin by setting out the facts of my constituent’s case before moving on to the problems that I have faced in seeking to resolve it and the relevant basic policy concerned. My…

How Parliament handled it

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