Teachers' Superannuation Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Salary on which contributions are payable

C1.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (12), a person’s contributable salary is the total of—

(a) the amounts payable by his employer, in respect of his pensionable employment—

(i) by way of salary; and

(ii) in satisfaction of any statutory liability arising out of sickness or maternity; and

(b) if the employer has satisfied the Department that it is expedient for residential accommodation to be provided free in connection with the employment, the money value as an allowance in kind of—

(i) the accommodation provided; and

(ii) any heating or lighting provided free in connection with such accommodation.

(2) Where a person’s contributable salary is reduced due to maternity leave or adoption leave the employee’s contributions shall be based on the actual rate of salary paid and the employer’s contributions shall be based on the notional rate as defined in paragraph (6).

(3) If the money value of any accommodation provided, as mentioned in paragraph (1)(b)(i), exceeds one sixth of the amounts mentioned in paragraph (1)(a), the excess is not part of the person’s contributable salary.

(4) A person’s contributable salary does not include—

(a) any allowance in kind not falling within paragraph (1)(b);

(b) any payment in respect of overtime;

(c) any payment by way of travelling or expense allowance; or

(d) any payment by way of bonus.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)—

(a) a payment by way of bonus shall not include any payment calculated by reference to the performance of the person in question or the performance of the institution where he is employed;

(b) a payment by way of bonus shall not include any payment made to the person in question where such a payment is made as part of a pay settlement which applies to all persons, or to all persons of a particular class or description, employed at the institution;

(c) if at any time a payment is made to a person which is not part of his contributable salary then any subsequent payment of the same nature is a payment by way of bonus (whether or not it is described as such); and

(d) if at any time a payment is made to a person which is part of his contributable salary then any subsequent payment of the same nature is not a payment by way of bonus (whether or not it is described as such).

(6) A person who continues in full-time pensionable employment but whose contributable salary is reduced, otherwise than by reason of sick leave, adoption leave or maternity leave, may elect that it is to be treated as having continued at the rate applicable immediately before the reduction (“the notional rate”).

(7) An election for the purposes of paragraph (6)—

(a) shall be made by giving written notice to the Department within 3 months after the reduction;

(b) has effect from the day after the last day on which the person’s salary was payable at the rate applicable before the reduction; and

(c) subject to paragraph (9), continues to have effect until a relevant event occurs in relation to the person who made it.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7)(c) the relevant events in relation to any person are—

(a) the actual rate at which the salary is paid exceeds the notional rate;

(b) that person enters employment as a temporary teacher or part-time pensionable employment; and

(c) unless he elects to pay additional contributions under regulation C6 or C7, that person ceases to be in pensionable employment.

(9) An election made for the purposes of paragraph (6) may be cancelled by giving written notice to the Department at any time.

(10) Notice of cancellation under paragraph (9)—

(a) has effect from the first day of the month following that in which it was received; and

(b) is irrevocable.

(11) If, while an election made for the purposes of paragraph (6) has effect there is any further reduction during a period of sick leave, adoption leave or maternity leave, the notional rate shall, during that period, be treated as having been reduced in the same proportion as the actual rate.

(12) Subject to paragraphs (13) and (14), in the case of a person entering pensionable employment after 31st May 1989 with no right to count any period before 1st June 1989 as reckonable service, in any tax year in which the contributable salary calculated in accordance with paragraphs (1) to (11) exceeds the permitted maximum in terms of section 590C of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (earnings cap)(1), the excess does not form part of his contributable salary.

(13) Paragraph (12) shall not apply to a person—

(a) who was in pensionable employment before 1st June 1989 and who resumes pensionable employment following—

(i) an absence on maternity leave in respect of which she enjoyed a right to return to work under Articles 111 to 117 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996(2);

(ii) a period of secondment or additional period of absence necessarily attributable to that secondment; and

(iii) in any other case, a break in pensionable employment not exceeding one year; or

(b) who was in comparable service before 1st June 1989 and who enters pensionable employment provided there has not been a period of more than one year between cessation of employment in comparable service and entering pensionable employment.

(14) For the purpose of paragraph (13), “comparable service” does not include service which is pensionable under a superannuation scheme for teachers in public employment in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

(1)

1988 c. 1; section 590C was inserted by the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26) Schedule 6, paragraph 4

(2)

S.I. 1996/1919 (N.I. 16)