The Police Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Police Regulations 1987 (“the 1987 Regulations”) as they apply in England and Wales.

The amendments made by Part 1 of the Schedule relate to the new system of police medical appeal boards which replaced the appeal to a medical referee with effect from 10th November 2003. The amendments are backdated to that date. A new Schedule H to the 1987 Regulations, which sets out the medical appeals procedure is substituted by paragraph 7 of Part 1 of the Schedule. Regulation 3 is a transitional provision making clear that the new system applies only to medical appeals notified to the Secretary of State on or after 10th November 2003: appeals in progress before that date will continue to be dealt with under the existing system.

Paragraph 10 of Part 2 of the Schedule amends regulation F10 of the 1987 Regulations to reduce from 2 years to 3 months the period of pensionable service a member of the police pension scheme must accrue before becoming eligible for a transfer of the value of his pension fund to another pension scheme. This change comes into force on 1st July 2004.

Paragraphs 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Part 2 of the Schedule make a number of changes to ensure that the provisions for buying back time spent on parental leave are the same as those already in place for maternity leave. These amendments are backdated to 1st April 2003. Regulation 4 makes transitional provision relating to periods of unpaid parental leave which occurred before the commencement of these Regulations.

Part 3 of the Schedule corrects typographical errors in regulation K4(1). The amendment is backdated to 1st April 2002.

Part 4 of the Schedule amends regulation F1 so as to increase the period of maternity leave which counts as pensionable service that is reckonable from 18 to 26 weeks.