The National Health Service Superannuation, Premature Retirement and Injury Benefits (Amendment) Regulations 1991

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (Superannuation) Regulations 1980 (“the principal Regulations”), the National Health Service (Compensation for Premature Retirement) Regulations 1981 (“the compensation Regulations”), and the National Health Service (Injury Benefits) Regulations 1974 (“the injury benefits Regulations”).

Regulation 2 amends the principal Regulations by inserting a definition of “Dental Practice Board”, including National Health Service trusts in the definition of “employing authority” and providing for certain bonuses not to be superannuable by excluding them from the definition of “remuneration”.

Regulations 3 and 5 amend the principal Regulations by excluding certain dental practitioners who have received early retirement benefits from accruing further superannuation benefits under the principal Regulations.

Regulation 4 amends the principal Regulations by making provision for the recovery from employing authorities of the costs of paying benefits on early retirement.

Regulation 6 amends the principal Regulations by including payments by the Dental Practice Board in the definition of remuneration.

Regulations 7 and 15 amend the principal Regulations and the injury benefits Regulations respectively by—

(a) providing that questions arising under those Regulations which concern the rights and liabilities of widowers are to be determined by the Secretary of State;

(b) deleting the provisions which made decisions of the Secretary of State final.

Regulation 8 amends the compensation Regulations by including National Health Service trusts in the definiton of “employing authority” and certain dental practitioners in the definition of “officer”.

Regulations 9 and 10 amend the compensation Regulations so that, in respect of service on or after 6th April 1988, widows and widowers are entitled to similar benefits.

Regulation 11 amends the injury benefits Regulations so that special health authorities and National Health Service trusts are included in the definition of “employing authority”.

Regulation 12 amends the injury benefits Regulations to take into account both reduced earnings allowance (which replaces special hardship allowance) and retirement allowance (which replaces reduced earnings allowance on retirement).

Regulation 13 amends the injury benefits Regulations by removing the requirement that a widower must be incapable, by reason of permanent ill-health, of earning his own living before he may qualify for benefits; by omitting obsolete references to industrial injuries death benefits and by increasing the period of the higher initial allowance from 3 months to 6 months. The amendments relating to widowers apply to persons who became widowers on or after 6th April 1988.

Regulation 14 amends the injury benefits Regulations by increasing any lump sum payable on death from one quarter to one half of average remuneration.

Regulation 16 provides that the following amendments made by these Regulations shall have retrospective effect—

(a) regulation 11(a) and (b), from 9th October 1974;

(b) regulations 9, 10 and 13(b)(ii) and (c), from 6th April 1988;

(c) regulation 13(a), from 11th April 1988.