Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975

Commissioners’ pensions: supplementary N.I.

7 (1) Paragraph 6(1) shall have effect notwithstanding that a Commissioner may, during his period of service as Commissioner, undertake other duties of a judicial or advisory nature for the purposes of this Act and, for the purposes of that sub-paragraph and paragraph 6(2), the last annual salary of any such person shall include any salary payable in respect of those other duties. N.I.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraph (3)—

(a) a person about to be appointed as Commissioner and remunerated by means of a salary;

(b) a person who, being a Commissioner is about to be remunerated by means of a salary,

shall, before being so appointed or, as the case may be, remunerated, furnish to the [F1 Lord Chancellor]satisfactory evidence that his health is suitable for the discharge of the duties of the office.

(3) A person of the kind referred to in sub-paragraph (2)(a) or (b) may elect that he shall not, before being appointed a Commissioner or, as the case may be, remunerated by means of a salary, furnish evidence as to his health, and where a Commissioner is so appointed or remunerated after having made such an election, then, subject to sub-paragraph (4), as respects him—

(a) paragraph 6(1) shall not have effect until he has completed 5 years’ service; and

(b) Part II of the Judicial Pension Act (Northern Ireland) 1951 shall not have effect until he has completed 10 years’ service;

and where the [F1 Lord Chancellor]is satisfied that his health has throughout his service been such that it has enabled him duly to discharge the duties of his office, the [F1 Lord Chancellor]may after the completion of the relevant period of service, direct that the said sub-paragraph or, as the case may be, the said Part, shall have effect as if he had not made that election.

(4) A Commissioner who has made an election under sub-paragraph (3) may at any time during his tenure of office furnish to the [F1 Lord Chancellor]satisfactory evidence as to his health, and the [F1 Lord Chancellor]may thereupon direct that for the purposes of paragraph 6(1) of this Schedule and of Part II of the M1 Judicial Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 1951 that Commissioner shall be treated as if he had not made that election.

(5) A person to whom a superannuation allowance has been granted under paragraph 6 before he has attained the age of 72 in consequence of an incapacity of the kind referred to in paragraph 6(1)(c) shall, until he has attained that age, be liable to be required by the [F2 Lord Chancellor]to resume the duties of a Commissioner with the salary attached thereto, and if (being in a competent state of health) he declines when so required to resume those duties, or declines or neglects to execute those duties, he shall forefeit his right to the allowance so granted to him.

[F3 (5A) The Lord Chancellor must consult the Lord Chief Justice before requiring a person to resume the duties of Commissioner in accordance with sub-paragraph (5).

(5B) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate any of the following to exercise his functions under sub-paragraph (5A)—

(a) the holder of one of the offices listed in Schedule 1 to the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002;

(b) a Lord Justice of Appeal (as defined in section 88 of that Act).]

(6) Whenever a person has resumed his duties pursuant to sub-paragraph (5) the payment of the superannuation allowance granted to him shall be suspended during the period of his resumed service, but, subject to the provisions of that sub-paragraph, at the end of that period the superannuation allowance shall again be payable and be recalculated in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 6(2), and for that purpose the period of his resumed service shall be added to the period of his former service.

(7) Where the rate of the superannuation allowance payable to any person under paragraph 6(1) as Commissioner is or would be increased by virtue of regulations made under paragraph 6(3)(b) in respect of service in some other capacity, any pension benefits paid to or in respect of him as having been a Commissioner shall, to such extent as the [F4 Treasury]may determine, having regard to the relative length of service and rate of remuneration in each capacity, be paid and borne in the manner in which a pension payable to him wholly in respect of service in that other capacity would have been paid and borne.

(8) In paragraph 6 and this paragraph—

(a) “pension” includes any superannuation or other retiring allowance or gratuity, and “pensionable” shall be construed accordingly; and

(b) “pension benefits” includes benefits payable on retirement or death by way of lump sum or gratuity, and benefits payable in respect of a person’s service or employment to other persons by way of [F5 surviving spouse’s, surviving civil partner’s] or children’s pension or otherwise.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Social Security Act 1986 (c. 50, SIF 113:1) s. 82, Sch. 9 para. 10(1)(a)

F2 Words substituted by Social Security Act 1986 (c. 50, SIF 113:1) s. 82, Sch. 9 para. 10(3).

F3 Sch. 10 para. 7(5A)(5B) inserted (3.4.2006) by Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), s. 148(1), Sch. 5 para. 21(3); S.I. 2006/1014, art. 2(a), Sch. 1 para. 12(a)

F4 Word substituted by Social Security Act 1986 (c. 50, SIF 113:1) s. 82, Sch. 9 para. 10(1)(b)

F5 Words in Sch. 10 para. 7(8)(b) substituted (13.1.2020) by The Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1514), regs. 1(2), 60(a) (with regs. 6-9)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Para. 7 excluded by Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8, SIF 113:1), ss. 39, 41, 48–50 Sch. 2 para. 1(6)

C2 Para. 7: certain functions transferred by Social Security Act 1986 (c. 50, SIF 113:1), s. 82, Sch. 9 Pt. II, paras. 3(1)(a), 4, 8(2)

Marginal Citations

M1 1951 c. 20 (N.I.)

[F6 7A (1) The provisions regulating the pensions which may be recieved under paragraph 6 are to take effect subject to the modifications contained in this paragraph. N.I.

(2) In this paragraph—

• “ Commissioners’ pension scheme ” means the occupational pension scheme constituted by this Act and the Judicial Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 1951;

• “ election ” means an election made under sub-paragraph (3);

• F7 ...F7 ...F7 ...F7 ...F7 ...

(3) A person who is eligible for a pension in respect of his office as a Commissioner shall while in that office:

(a) be deemed to be a member of the Commisioners’ pension scheme except during such time as an election is in force in respect of him; and

[F8 (b) be entitled at any time to serve on the Lord Chancellor a written notice of election not to be a member of the Commissioners' pension scheme, to take effect on a date not less than one month after the date on which it was served.]

(4) At any time after a person has made an election and while he continues to hold office as a Commissioner:

(a) he may make a written application to the Lord Chancellor requesting admission to membership of the Commissioners’ pension scheme; and

(b) the Lord Chancellor may, if satisfied that the applicant is in good health, admit him to that scheme on a date not less than three months after the date on which the application was served; and

(c) upon the date of the applicant’s admission to the Commissioners’ pension scheme, his election shall cease to be in force.

(5) An applicant under sub-paragraph (4) shall supply such evidence relating to his health as the Lord Chancellor may reasonably require and shall submit to any medical examination reasonably specified by the Lord Chancellor.

(6) The Lord Chancellor shall notify an applicant under sub-paragraph (4) of his decision in writing within three months after the date on which the application was served.

(7) Subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (4), an election shall be irrevocable.

(8) An election shall not affect its maker’s eligibility for a pension which accrued under a judicial pension scheme before that election came into force.

(9) While an election remains in force in respect of a person, his service shall not be counted as service or relevant service in computing the pension for which he is eligible under any judicial pension scheme.]

Textual Amendments

F6 Para. 7A inserted by S.R. (N.I.) No. 1989/100, reg. 5 Sch. 4.

F7 Words in Sch. 10 para. 7A(2) omitted (19.12.2003) by virtue of The Election Against Benefits Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (S.R. 2003/482), regs. 1(1), 4(2)(a)

F8 Sch. 10 para. 7A(3)(b) substituted (19.12.2003) by The Election Against Benefits Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (S.R. 2003/482), regs. 1(1), 4(2)(b)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C3 Para. 7A excluded by Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8, SIF 113:1), ss. 39, 41, 48–50 Sch. 2 para. 1(6)

C4 Sch. 10 para. 7A: power to modify conferred (7.2.1994) by 1993 c. 49, ss. 182, 183, 184, Sch. 5 Pt. II para. 17(2)(3)(h); S.R. 1994/17, art. 2

C5 Sch. 10 para. 7A(3) modified (31.3.1995) by 1993 c. 8, ss. 13(8)(9)(f); S.I. 1995/631, art. 2