The Police Pensions Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 (“the 1987 Regulations”) as they apply in Scotland.

Regulation 1 provides for the citation, commencement and extent of the Regulations noting, where applicable, earlier dates of coming into force of provisions that apply to some of the amendments made in the Schedule to the Regulations.

Regulation 3 refers to the Schedule which amends the 1987 Regulations, introducing changes relating to the period of pensionable service for maternity leave, unpaid parental leave, medical questions and appeals, dependants' potential entitlements in cases of a forfeiture of a member’s pension, transfers of pensionable service from transferees from the British Transport Police, and other miscellaneous changes.

Regulation 4 makes transitional provisions relating to periods of unpaid parental leave that occurred before the commencement of these Regulations. Regulation 5 allows transfers from the British Transport Police Force Superannuation Fund to the Police Pension Scheme to be automatically considered under the more beneficial terms introduced from 1 December 2004, for all transfers that took place from 1st February 2001. Transfers from 30th April 1998 can also be considered, at the discretion of the police authority.

In Schedule 1–

• Paragraphs 1, 5, 8 and 14 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.

• Paragraphs 2 and 3 amend the 1987 Regulations to take into account the re-introduction of the rank of deputy chief constable.

• Paragraph 4 amends Regulation F1 of the 1987 Regulations to increase the period of maternity leave which counts as pensionable service that is reckonable from 18 to 26 weeks.

• Paragraphs 6 and 15 make the necessary amendments to the 1987 Regulations to provide for the transfer payment of the pension of a person who becomes a police officer, having previously served in the British Transport Police Force, to be treated on the more favourable basis that is already currently accorded to the pensions of police officers who have previously served in other public sector posts. In the case of a person who is aged 55 or over at the time of the transfer, that more favourable treatment will require the agreement of the British Transport Police Force Superannuation Fund, and of the police authority concerned.

• Paragraph 7 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.

• Paragraphs 9, 10 11 and 16 make amendments to Regulation H and Schedule H of the 1987 Regulations concerning medical questions and appeals. All responses by the selected medical practitioner to questions referred under Regulation H1 will be in the form of a report. An officer will have 28 days to appeal against all such decisions and must also within 28 days of making an appeal supply the grounds for the appeal. Both the appeal and grounds for appeal must be in writing. These conditions previously only applied to questions under Regulation H1(2)(a) and (b).

• Paragraph 12 corrects typographical errors in Regulation K4(1). The amendment is backdated to 1st April 2002.

• Paragraph 13 amends Regulation K5 to offer a police authority the opportunity to protect dependants' potential entitlements in cases where a member’s pension is subject to forfeiture, or to restore to the pensioner any forfeited pension.