The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014

Retirement pension accounts: active members N.I.

27.—(1) When an active member becomes entitled to immediate payment of a full retirement pension in relation to an employment—

(a) the active member's pension account shall be closed; and

(b) a retirement pension account shall be opened.

(2) The retirement pension account shall specify—

(a) the amount of accrued pension;

(b) the amount of any additional pension purchased under regulation 19(7)(b)(i) (additional voluntary contributions);

(c) the early payment reduction or deferred payment enhancement (if any) and the amount of pension to which that reduction or enhancement is to be applied;

(d) the commutation amount (if any);

(e) the amount of any pension adjustment; and

(f) the amount of pension payable from time to time and the date from which it is to be paid.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), the amount of accrued pension for the purposes of paragraph (2)(a) is the amount that would have been specified under regulation 26(4) (deferred member's pension account and deferred refund account) [F1 and where applicable, regulation 26(4A)] if a deferred member's pension account had been opened for that member.

(4) The amount of accrued pension specified in paragraph (2)(a) shall be reduced to take account of the commutation amount (if any) in paragraph (2)(d).

[F2 (4A) If a member’s last day of active membership falls in the period beginning with 1st April and ending with 5th April in any Scheme year, on the revaluation date falling within the Scheme year during which the member was last active the revaluation adjustment must be applied to the opening balance for the member’s last active Scheme year and takes effect from the date the member became entitled to immediate payment, in accordance with actuarial guidance issued by the Department.]

(5) The amount of any pension adjustment not already accounted for under paragraph (2)(a) is, for the purposes of paragraph (2)(e), the aggregate of the amounts calculated in accordance with actuarial guidance issued by the Department to account for any tax to which the Committee may become chargeable under the 2004 Finance Act in accordance with regulation 97 (tax) or as a result of a pension sharing order.

(6) The balance in the member's retirement pension account at the end of the Scheme year in which the member becomes a pensioner member is adjusted [F3 on the revaluation date in] the following Scheme year by the revaluation adjustment applicable to the Scheme year in which the member became a pensioner member [F4 and takes effect from the start of the Scheme year following the Scheme year in which the member became a pensioner member], in accordance with actuarial guidance issued by the Department.

[F5 (7) The balance calculated under paragraph (2) including any adjustment made in accordance with paragraph (4A), is the opening balance for the following Scheme year and, having applied the revaluation adjustment to the balance in accordance with paragraph (6), thereafter, the balance is adjusted each year by the index rate adjustment from the date that an increase would apply if that balance were a pension in payment to which the 1971 Act applied.

(7A) Where an index rate adjustment is due to be made on a revaluation date, any such adjustment must be made immediately after the revaluation adjustment is made.]

(8) For the purposes of this regulation a full retirement pension means a retirement pension other than a pension payable under regulation 31(6) (retirement benefits, flexible retirement pensions).

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 27(3) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 3(3)(a)

F2 Reg. 27(4A) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 3(3)(b)

F3 Words in reg. 27(6) substituted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 3(3)(c)(i)

F4 Words in reg. 27(6) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 3(3)(c)(ii)

F5 Reg. 27(7)(7A) substituted for reg. 27(7) (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 3(3)(d)