The Local Government Pension Scheme (Administration) Regulations 2008

Contributions during reserve forces service leave

19.—(1) This regulation applies to a person who—

(a) is a member or has applied to be a member; and

(b) goes on reserve forces service leave.

(2) He must pay contributions under regulation 3 of the Benefits Regulations and any payments under regulation 23 of these Regulations or regulation 55 of the 1997 Regulations that he was paying immediately before his relevant reserve forces service began if (and only if) his reserve forces pay during that service equals or exceeds the pay he would have received if he had continued to be employed in his former employment.

(3) Those contributions continue to be payable to the appropriate fund at the same rates on that pay.

(4) If he is not obliged to pay contributions under paragraph (2), he must be treated for the purposes of these Regulations and the Benefits Regulations as if he had paid them and also any payments under regulation 23 of these Regulations or regulation 55 of the 1997 Regulations that he would have been liable to pay if he had continued to be employed in his former employment.

(5) If he was paying any contributions under regulation 25(1) immediately before his leave began—

(a) he may continue to pay, or may stop paying, them; and

(b) unless he has stopped paying them, the appropriate administering authority must, throughout the period of his relevant reserve forces service, continue to pay such contributions as were to be used to provide benefits for him on his death.

(6) His relevant reserve forces service counts as a period of membership in his former employment.

(7) If during that service, he—

(a) dies;

(b) attains his normal retirement age; or

(c) becomes incapable for health reasons of working efficiently in local government employment,

he must be treated as if he were in that employment at that time.

(8) In this regulation—

“cancelling notice” in relation to a person’s relevant reserve forces service, means—

(a)

an agreement, by a member who has not waived his right to receive a return of contributions under regulation 46, to receive a return of contributions; or

(b)

a notice in writing given by him to the appropriate administering authority not later than 12 months after the end of the period of service to which the notice relates (or within such longer period as the administering authority may allow) that the service should not be treated as relevant reserve forces service;

“relevant reserve forces service” means service (other than service for the purposes of training only or service for a period in respect of which a cancelling notice has been served)—

(a)

in pursuance of any notice or directions given under any enactment which provides for the calling out on permanent service, or the calling into actual service, or the embodiment of, any reserve or auxiliary force, or members of such a force, or the recall of service pensioners;

(b)

in pursuance of any obligation or undertaking to serve when called upon as a commissioned officer; or

(c)

rendered by virtue of section 14(1) or 34 of the Reserve Forces Act 1980(1),

and paragraph (b) applies whether or not the obligation or undertaking is legally enforceable, but not in the case of an obligation or undertaking to accept a permanent commission or a commission for a fixed term or to serve for the purposes of periodical training;

“reserve forces pay” in relation to any person, is the total of—

(a)

his pay for performing relevant reserve forces service (including marriage, family and similar allowances); and

(b)

any payments under Part 5 of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act 1951(2);

“reserve forces service leave” in relation to a person, means being away from work—

(a)

after—

(i)

he has left the employment in which he is an active member, or

(ii)

he has been granted leave of absence from such an employment,

in order to perform relevant reserve forces service;

(b)

without having agreed to receive a return of contributions under regulation 46; and

(c)

without having elected that the absence is not to count as such by giving notice in writing to the appropriate administering authority not later than 12 months after the end of the period of relevant reserve forces service to which the notice relates (or within such longer period as the administering authority may allow);

“reserve or auxiliary force” means the whole or part of the Royal Navy Reserve (including the Royal Fleet Reserve), the Royal Marines Reserve, the Territorial Army, the Army Reserve, the Air Force Reserve, the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve or the Royal Auxiliary Air Force; and

“service pensioner” means a person in receipt of a pension (other than a pension awarded in respect of disablement) granted—

(a)

in respect of service in the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the regular army and the regular air force or any reserve or auxiliary force which has been called out on permanent service or which has been embodied; or

(b)

in respect of that and other service.

(1)

1980 c.9.

(2)

1951 c.65.