Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022

103 Power to make provision in relation to certain fee-paid judges

(1) Scheme regulations for a judicial scheme may make provision for the purpose of putting relevant fee-paid judges, so far as possible, in the position they would have been in if they had always been recognised as being full protection members of a judicial legacy scheme.

(2) The provision that may be made under subsection (1) includes in particular—

(a) provision about the amount of benefits to which a person is or was entitled in respect of pensionable service;

(b) provision about pension contributions a person is or was required to pay to the scheme in respect of pensionable service;

(c) provision about cases in which voluntary contributions have been paid to a judicial 2015 scheme (including provision under which rights to benefits referable to the contributions are retained in the judicial 2015 scheme);

(d) provision about cases in which a person has transferred rights into a judicial 2015 scheme (including provision under which the rights are retained in the judicial 2015 scheme);

(e) provision about cases in which a person has a partnership pension account;

(f) provision about cases in which a person has partially retired;

(g) provision enabling a scheme manager to pay amounts by way of compensation, including provision requiring an employer in relation to the scheme to reimburse the scheme manager for such amounts;

(h) provision corresponding or similar to any provision of or made under—

(i) section 53 (effective pension age payments);

(ii) section 54 (transitional protection allowance);

(iii) section 55 (power to reduce benefits in lieu of paying liabilities owed to the scheme);

(iv) section 56 (powers to reduce or waive liabilities);

(v) section 57 (pension credit members);

(vi) section 61 (interest and process).

(3) For the purposes of this section a person (“P”) is a “relevant fee-paid judge” if—

(a) on 31 March 2012—

(i) P held a fee-paid judicial office, and

(ii) did not hold a salaried judicial office,

(b) on 1 April 2012, P was aged 55 or over,

(c) at any time in the period beginning with 1 April 2012 and ending with the day before the relevant date, P held a salaried judicial office, and

(d) either—

(i) on the relevant date, P did not hold a fee-paid judicial office, or

(ii) the condition in regulation 8(2)(a) of the judicial legacy fee-paid scheme (members) is not met in relation to P and the fee-paid judicial office mentioned in paragraph (a)(i).

(4) In this section “full protection member”—

(a) in relation to a judicial office within section 71(1)(a) or (b), has the same meaning as in Schedule 2 to the Judicial Pensions Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/182) (see paragraph 1 of that Schedule), or

(b) in relation to a judicial office within section 71(1)(c), has the same meaning as in Schedule 2 to the Judicial Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (S.R. (N.I.) 2015 No. 76) (see paragraph 1 of that Schedule).

(5) In this section “the relevant date”—

(a) in relation to a judicial office within section 71(1)(a) or (b), means 2 December 2012;

(b) in relation to a judicial office within section 71(1)(c), means 1 February 2013.

(6) Expressions used in this section have the same meaning as in Chapter 2.