The Armed Forces Redundancy Scheme Order 2020

PART 1 Interpretation and method of calculating periods of service

General interpretation

1.  In this Schedule—

“active member” in relation to a member of a pension scheme, has the meaning given in section 124(1) of the Pensions Act 1995(1);

“additional duties commitment” means a commitment under section 25 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996(2);

“annualised relevant earnings” has the meaning given in paragraph 3(3);

“AFPS 1975” means the occupational pension scheme arrangements known as the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and set out in—

(a)

the Naval and Marine Pensions (Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and Attributable Benefits Scheme) Order 2010(3);

(b)

the Army Pensions (Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and Attributable Benefits Scheme) Warrant 2010(4); and

(c)

the Air Force (Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and Attributable Benefits Scheme) Order 2010(5);

“AFPS 2005” means the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2005 established by the Armed Forces Pension Scheme Order 2005(6);

“AFPS 2015” means the pension scheme established by the Armed Forces Pension Regulations 2014(7);

“AFRS 2006” means the Armed Forces Redundancy Scheme 2006, established by the Armed Forces Redundancy Scheme Order 2006(8);

“AFRS 2010” means the Armed Forces Redundancy Scheme 2010, established by the Armed Forces (Redundancy, Resettlement and Gratuity Earnings Schemes) (No. 2) Order 2010(9);

“AFRS 2020” means the Armed Forces Redundancy Scheme 2020;

“commitment period”, in relation to a member of the armed forces, means the period for which the person’s terms of service commit them to serve;

“EDP 2015 payments” mean payments under regulation 9 of the Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme Regulations 2014(10);

“EDP 2005 payments” mean payments under article 9 of the Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme Order 2005(11);

“eligible person” means a person who is eligible within the meaning of paragraph 7;

“final relevant earnings” has the meaning given in paragraph 3;

“flexible service” means one or both of the following types of service—

(a)

part-time service;

(b)

restricted separation service,

and references to a member serving on flexible terms must be construed accordingly;

“FTRS commitment” means a full time reserve service commitment under section 24 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996(12);

“maximum pension”, in relation to any person, means a pension calculated by reference to the highest number of years of reckonable service that may be used in that calculation;

“part-time service” means—

(a)

for enlisted members, a period of service where the member is serving in accordance with an arrangement provided for in regulations made under section 329(2)(ha) of the Armed Forces Act 2006(13);

(b)

for members who are officers, a period of service on equivalent terms of service;

“redundancy qualifying service” has the meaning given in paragraph 5;

“relevant earnings” has the meaning given in paragraph 4;

“restricted separation service” means—

(a)

for enlisted members, a period of service where the member is serving in accordance with an arrangement which does not restrict the member’s service in a particular area but does make it subject to other geographic restrictions provided for in regulations made under section 329(2)(i) of the Armed Forces Act 2006;

(b)

for members who are officers, a period of service on equivalent terms of service;

“service reduction percentage” has the meaning given in paragraph 2.

Meaning of “service reduction percentage”

2.—(1) In this Schedule, the “service reduction percentage” in respect of a period of flexible service is given by the formula, expressed as a percentage—

where—

• A is the basic pay which the member would have received in respect of that period of flexible service had the person not been serving on flexible terms;

• B is the basic pay received by the person in respect of that period of flexible service.

(2) For the purposes of the Scheme, a period of flexible service ends and another begins when any change in the service reduction percentage occurs.

Meaning of “final relevant earnings”

3.—(1) In this Schedule, “final relevant earnings” in relation to a person, means the greatest amount that is the person’s total relevant earnings for 365 consecutive days falling within the period of 3 years ending with the person’s last day of redundancy qualifying service.

(2) If the person was required to be in service as a member of the armed forces during any period of 365 consecutive days falling within the period of 3 years mentioned in sub-paragraph (1), but was not in such service for a period of 365 consecutive days, then the sub-paragraph applies as if it referred to the person’s annualised relevant earnings in the period of redundancy qualifying service ending with the last day of such service.

(3) The person’s “annualised relevant earnings” in a period of service are the amount given by the formula—

where—

• RE is the person’s relevant earnings for the period, and

• N is the number of days in the period for which relevant earnings were received.

Meaning of “relevant earnings”

4.—(1) In this Schedule, “relevant earnings” in relation to a person in service as a member of the armed forces means—

(a) basic pay for a person of the person’s rank and seniority, and

(b) any other amount if and to the extent that the Secretary of State has determined that it is to be treated as relevant earnings for this purpose.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraph (1)(b), “relevant earnings” does not include—

(a) any allowances,

(b) any additional amounts payable in respect of particular qualifications or duties, the location of service or the conditions in which service is temporarily performed, or

(c) any additional amounts payable to medical or dental officers as such.

(3) In the case of a person who has served on flexible terms during any period for which relevant earnings are to be calculated under sub-paragraph (1), that person’s relevant earnings are to be calculated as though they had not served on flexible terms for that period.

Meaning of “redundancy qualifying service”

5.—(1) In this Schedule, and subject to sub-paragraph (2), “redundancy qualifying service” means pensionable service in the AFPS 2015, or service that would have been pensionable service in the AFPS 2015 had the person not opted to cease to be an active member of that scheme.

(2) “Redundancy qualifying service”—

(a) does not include any service before a gap in service, where that gap is 5 years or more,

(b) does not include any service by a person while serving as a member of the non regular permanent staff,

(c) does not include any period of unauthorised absence from service,

(d) does not include any period of unpaid leave in respect of which a person is not treated as receiving assumed pay and “assumed pay” has the same meaning as in section 24 of the Armed Forces Pension Regulations 2014(14),

(e) does not include any period of service detention and “service detention” has the same meaning as in section 374 of the Armed Forces Act 2006(15), and

(f) does not include any period of imprisonment.

(3) Where a person has served on flexible terms, the person’s redundancy qualifying service for each period of such service, calculated for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), is reduced by the service reduction percentage applicable to that period of flexible service.

(4) For the purposes of paragraphs 9, 10 and 11, pensionable service in the AFPS 2015 is pensionable service as a member of the regular forces.

Periods of service: method of calculation

6.—(1) In this Schedule, periods of service are to be calculated in accordance with sub-paragraphs (2) to (5).

(2) Periods of service are to be expressed in the first instance in whole years, and days, and the initial aggregation of periods that require to be aggregated is done in the first instance by reference to periods so expressed.

(3) If, when all periods of service that are required to be aggregated have been aggregated, there is any excess part day over the number of whole days, that excess is rounded up to a full day.

(4) To determine years of service—

(a) the days referred to in sub-paragraph (2), and

(b) the full days referred to in sub-paragraph (3)

are converted into years by dividing the number of days in excess of the period of whole years by 365 or in the case of a leap year by 366, and rounding the result to four decimal places.

(5) If a period of service is less than one year—

(a) sub-paragraph (2) applies with the omission of “whole years, and”, and

(b) sub-paragraph (4) applies with the omission of “in excess of the period of whole years”.

(1)

1995 c. 26.

(2)

1996 c. 14.

(3)

The rules of the AFPS 1975 in relation to former members of the Navy and Royal Marines are stated in Schedule 1 to the Order, as substituted by the Naval and Marine Pensions (Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and Attributable Benefits Scheme) (Amendment) Order 2010, and as amended by further Orders.

(4)

The rules of the AFPS 1975 in relation to former members of the Army are stated in Schedule 1 to the Warrant, as substituted by the Army Pensions (Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and Attributable Benefits Scheme) (Amendment) Warrant 2010, and as amended by further Warrants.

(5)

The rules of the AFPS 1975 in relation to former members of the Royal Air Force are stated in Schedule 1 to the Order, as substituted by the Naval and Marine Pensions (Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and Attributable Benefits Scheme) (Amendment) Order 2010, and as amended by further Orders.

(6)

S.I. 2005/438 as amended.

(7)

S.I. 2014/2336.

(8)

S.I. 2006/55.

(9)

S.I. 2010/832.

(10)

S.I. 2014/2328.

(11)

S.I. 2005/437.

(12)

1996 c. 14.

(13)

2006 c. 52.

(14)

S.I. 2014/2336.

(15)

2006 c. 52.