UK Offence Report

Forfeiture of pension rights after conviction for employment-related offences

regulation 89(2) of The Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (revoked)

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 A relevant offence is an offence committed in connection with an employment in which the person convicted is

a member.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 89(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2014.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
5 June 2014
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations (“the Regulations”) introduce a new local government pension scheme (“the Scheme”) which is to come into existence on 1st April 2015 and replace the local government pension scheme constituted by the Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (S.S.I. 2008/230) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (Administration) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (S.S.I. 2008/228) (“the 2008 Scheme”). In contrast to the 2008 Scheme which was a final salary pension scheme in which unreduced benefits were payable to members from the age of 65, the Scheme provides for members to accrue pension on a career average revalued earnings basis and for unreduced benefits to be payable from their state pension age. Part 1 of the Regulations sets out provisions relating to benefits, membership and contributions. Regulations 3 to 8 set out the rules for eligibility for membership and the different categories of member. Regulations 9 to 21 set out the rules for contributions and include provision known as the “50/50” option which enables members to elect to pay half the usual rate of contribution and to accrue benefits at half the usual rate. Regulations 16 and 17 make provision for the purchase of additional benefits. Provision is also made for the payment or crediting of contributions during absences from work and for the calculation of an assumed level of pensionable pay during such absences. Regulations 22 to 28 provide for the creation and maintenance of pension accounts. Regulations 29 to 50 provide for the payment of benefits to members and their survivors. Part 2 of the Regulations sets out provisions relating to the administration of the Scheme. Regulations 51 to 69 provide for management of the Scheme including the obtaining of actuarial valuations and the calculation of employer contributions. Regulations 70 to 88 provide for the making and notification of decisions and for challenges to those decisions, and for the supply of relevant information to enable decisions to be taken. Regulations 89 to 92 set out provisions for forfeiture of benefits. Regulation 93 provides for certificates of protection where, otherwise than by virtue of the member’s own actions, the member’s rate of pay is reduced or any future increase is restricted to the detriment of the member’s pension. Statutory guidance will be provided. Regulations 94 to 100 set out provisions relating to transfers between funds. Regulation 101 applies the Regulations to councillors as to employees of councils with modifications. Regulation 102 applies for separate employments where members take on additional duties. Schedule 1 contains definitions. Schedule 2 sets out who can be Scheme employers and makes provision relating to admission agreements between employers who are not listed within the Schedule and administering authorities. Schedule 3 sets out who must maintain a fund for the Scheme, and is thus an administering authority. Schedule 4 contains provision identifying who is the appropriate administering authority for the employees of any particular Scheme employer. Schedule 5 modifies certain provisions in their application to councillor members. A regulatory impact assessment has been produced for these Regulations and is available at http://www.sppa.gov.uk/Local Government.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.62.

Basis
the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.62 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source