The Armed Forces Pension Scheme Order 2005

Treatment of Separate Periods of Service: Options to Aggregate U.K.

G.2.    General rule: periods of service treated separately U.K.

(1) The general rule is that—

(a) the reckonable service and qualifying service that a re-employed active member was entitled to count immediately before becoming an active member in the current service are disregarded in determining rights in respect of his current service, and

(b) the reckonable service and qualifying service that a re-employed active member is entitled to count as a result of his membership in the current service are disregarded in determining rights in respect of his earlier service.

(2) That general rule is subject to the following provisions of this Part (and see also rule A.10: disregard of short breaks in service).

G.3.    Option to aggregate earlier membership: previous members of the Scheme U.K.

(1) This rule applies in the case of a re-employed active member who immediately before becoming an active member in the current service was entitled under these Rules to count reckonable service and qualifying service.

(2) The member may opt for that service—

(a) to be aggregated with the reckonable service and qualifying service that he is entitled to count as a result of his membership of the Scheme in the current service for the purpose of determining rights under the Scheme in respect of that membership, and

(b) to be disregarded for all other purposes of the Scheme.

This is subject to the paragraphs (3) and (4) and rule G.5.

(3) If the reckonable service and qualifying service mentioned in paragraph (1) is service in respect of two or more earlier periods of membership, the member may only exercise the option under paragraph (2) in relation to the reckonable service and qualifying service in respect of the later of those periods (or, if there are more than two, the latest of them).

(4) But in paragraph (3) the reference to the later or latest of those periods includes—

(a) any period (“the earlier aggregated period”) in respect of which the member has previously exercised the option under paragraph (2) or rule G.4 or an option under rule K.5 if he had the right to exercise that option because of his being a member in that later or latest period of service, F1 ...

(b) any period earlier than the earlier aggregated period in respect of which the member previously exercised such an option if he had the right to exercise that option because of his being a member in the earlier aggregated period, [F2 and

(c) in a case where the later or latest of those periods began in accordance with rule L.4 (or an earlier period included in the later or latest period by virtue of sub-paragraph (a) or (b) did so), any period that the member is entitled to count under that rule,]

and so on.

Textual Amendments

F1 Word in Sch. 1 rule G.3(4) omitted (1.10.2007) by virtue of The Armed Forces (Gurkha Pensions) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/2608), arts. 1(1), 3(12)(a)

F2 Sch. 1 rule G.3(4)(c) and word inserted (1.10.2007) by The Armed Forces (Gurkha Pensions) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/2608), arts. 1(1), 3(12)(b)

G.4.    Option to aggregate earlier membership: previous members of the AFPS 1975 U.K.

(1) This rule applies in the case of a re-employed active member to whom rule G.3 does not apply who was awarded a preserved pension and lump sum under the AFPS 1975 in respect of qualifying and reckonable service F3 ....

[F4 (1A) This rule also applies in the case of a member to whom rule G.3 does not apply who was awarded a preserved pension and lump sum under the AFPS 1975 in respect of qualifying and reckonable service, and who left service on or after 1st January 2012 and before 16th December 2013 without having exercised an option under this rule.]

(2) The member may opt for the qualifying and reckonable service in respect of which the member was awarded the preserved pension—

(a) to be aggregated with the reckonable service and qualifying service that he is entitled to count as a result of his membership of the Scheme in the current service for the purpose of determining rights under the Scheme in respect of that membership, and

(b) to be disregarded for all other purposes.

This is subject to paragraphs (3) and (4) and rule G.5.

(3) If the member was awarded two or more preserved pensions under the AFPS 1975, the member may only exercise the option under paragraph (2) in relation to the service to which the later or, if there are more than two, the latest of the awards relates.

(4) If—

(a) the award under the AFPS 1975 of a member who exercises an option under this rule is subject to a pension debit, and

(b) in the opinion of the Scheme administrator it is necessary for the purpose of giving effect to the pension debit for some or all of the benefits to which the pension member is entitled under the Scheme as a result of exercising the option to be taken in a different form from that in which he would otherwise be entitled to take them,

the Scheme administrator may, after taking advice from the Scheme actuary, make such modifications to the member’s rights as to the form of those benefits as he considers necessary for that purpose.

[F5 (5) Where a person whose period of AFPS 1975 service ended on or after 6th April 2005 has exercised an option under this rule in accordance with the procedure set out in rule G.5(2), that option is to be regarded as valid.]

Textual Amendments

F3 Words in Sch. 1 rule G.4(1) omitted (17.12.2014) by virtue of The Armed Forces Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/2958), arts. 1(2), 3(1)

F4 Sch. 1 rule G.4(1A) inserted (17.12.2014) by The Armed Forces Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/2958), arts. 1(2), 3(2)

F5 Sch. 1 rule G.4(5) inserted (17.12.2014) by The Armed Forces Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Early Departure Payments Scheme (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/2958), arts. 1(2), 3(3)

G.5.    Procedure for exercising options under rules G.3 and G.4 U.K.

(1) An option under rule G.3(2) may only be exercised before the end of the current service [F6 , subject to paragraph (3)].

(2) An option under rule G.3(2) or rule G.4(2) may only be exercised by notice in writing to the Scheme administrator in such form as the Secretary of State requires.

[F7 (3) Where—

(a) the member has remediable service, and

(b) the period of service of which the remediable service formed part ended before an immediate choice decision or a deferred choice decision within the meaning of Schedule 3 had been made in relation to the remediable service,

the option under rule G.3(2) or G.4(2) may be exercised when the immediate choice decision or a deferred choice decision is made, whether or not the member is an active member at the time the relevant decision is made.]

Textual Amendments

F6 Words in Sch. 1 rule G.5(1) inserted (1.10.2023) by The Armed Forces Pensions (Remediable Service) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/998), regs. 1(b), 8(5)(a)

F7 Sch. 1 rule G.5(3) inserted (1.10.2023) by The Armed Forces Pensions (Remediable Service) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/998), regs. 1(b), 8(5)(b)

G.6.    Application of rule G.3 to members who opted to leave Scheme U.K.

(1) Rule G.3 applies to a member who, having been an active member of the Scheme, opted to cease to be such a member whilst continuing to be in service by virtue of which he is eligible to belong to the Scheme as it applies to a member who ceases to be in such service.

(2) In relation to such a person this Part applies as if the member—

(a) had ceased to be in such service when he ceased to be an active member by virtue of the option, and

(b) had begun to be in such service again at the time when he becomes an active member again;

and references to a re-employed active member, the earlier service and the current service are to be read accordingly.

(3) This rule applies subject to rule A.10(2) (disregard of short breaks in service).

G.7.    Re-employment after ill-health awards U.K.

(1) This rule applies if—

(a) a re-employed active member has received benefits under rule D.5 or D.6, and

(b) the enhancement period exceeds the period beginning with the day on which his early retirement began (“the first retirement day”) and ending with the day before his current service began.

(2) In this rule “the enhancement period” means—

(a) in the case of a member who has received a pension under rule D.5, the amount by which N years exceeds the reckonable service he was entitled to count when he became entitled to the pension under that rule, where N has the meaning given in rule D.5(5), and

(b) in the case of a member who has received a pension under rule D.6, one-third of the further reckonable service referred to in rule D.6(3).

(3) The re-employed member’s current service counts as reckonable service for the purposes of the Scheme only in so far as it is service after the time when the period since the beginning of the first retirement day equals the enhancement period.