The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2008

Amendment of the Benefits Regulations

13.  For regulation 20 (early leavers: ill-health) substitute—

“20.— (1) If an employing authority determine, in the case of a member who satisfies one of the qualifying conditions in regulation 5—

(a) to terminate his employment on the grounds that his ill-health or infirmity of mind or body renders him permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of his current employment; and

(b) that he has a reduced likelihood of obtaining any gainful employment before his normal retirement age,

they shall agree to his retirement pension coming into payment before his normal retirement age in accordance with this regulation in the circumstances set out in paragraph (2), (3) or (4), as the case may be.

(2) If the authority determine that there is no reasonable prospect of his obtaining any gainful employment before his normal retirement age, his benefits are increased—

(a) as if the date on which he leaves his employment were his normal retirement age; and

(b) by adding to his total membership at that date the whole of the period between that date and the date on which he would have retired at normal retirement age.

(3) If the authority determine that, although he cannot obtain gainful employment within three years of leaving his employment, it is likely that he will be able to obtain any gainful employment before his normal retirement age, his benefits are increased—

(a) as if the date on which he leaves his employment were his normal retirement age; and

(b) by adding to his total membership at that date 25% of the period between that date and the date on which he would have retired at normal retirement age.

(4) If the authority determine that it is likely that he will be able to obtain any gainful employment within three years of leaving his employment, his benefits—

(a) are those that he would have received if the date on which he left his employment were the date on which he would have retired at normal retirement age; and

(b) unless discontinued under paragraph (8), are payable for so long as he is not in gainful employment.

(5) Before making a determination under this regulation, an authority must obtain a certificate from an independent registered medical practitioner qualified in occupational health medicine as to whether in his opinion the member is suffering from a condition that renders him permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of the relevant employment because of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body and, if so, whether as a result of that condition he has a reduced likelihood of obtaining any gainful employment before reaching his normal retirement age.

(6) A person who receives benefits under paragraph (4) shall—

(a) inform the authority if he obtains employment; and

(b) answer any inquiries made by the authority as to his current employment status, including as to his pay and working hours.

(7) (a) Once benefits have been in payment to a person for 18 months, the authority shall make inquiries as to his current employment.

(b) If he is not in gainful employment, the authority shall obtain a further certificate from an independent registered medical practitioner as to the matters set out in paragraph (5).

(8) (a) The authority shall discontinue the payment of benefits under paragraph (4) if they consider—

(i) that the person is in gainful employment; or

(ii) in reliance on the certificate obtained under paragraph (7)(b), that he is capable of obtaining such employment

and may recover any payment made in respect of any period before discontinuance during which they consider him to have been in gainful employment.

(b) The authority shall in any event discontinue the payment of benefits under paragraph (4) after they have been in payment to a person for three years.

(c) The authority shall forthwith notify the appropriate administering authority of any action they have taken under this paragraph.

(9) A person in respect of whom the payment of benefits is discontinued under paragraph (8) shall be treated as a pensioner member with deferred benefits from the date the suspension takes effect, and shall not be eligible to receive benefits under paragraph (4) in respect of any future period.

(10) If a person in respect of whom the payment of benefits is discontinued under paragraph (8) subsequently becomes an active member of the Scheme, his earlier period of active membership in respect of which benefits were paid under paragraph (4) shall not be aggregated with his later active membership.

(11) (a) An authority which has made a determination under paragraph (4) in respect of a member may make a subsequent determination under paragraph (3) in respect of him.

(b) Any increase in benefits payable as a result of any such subsequent determination is payable from the date of that determination.

(12) (a) Subject to sub-paragraph (b) and to paragraph (13), in the case of a member in part-time service, the period to be added under paragraph (2)(b) or (3)(b), as the case may be, is calculated in accordance with regulation 7(3) as if he had remained in such part-time service until his normal retirement age.

(b) If the certificate obtained under paragraph (5) states that, in the medical practitioner’s opinion, the member is wholly or partly in part-time service as a result of the condition that has caused him to be incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of the relevant local government employment, no account shall be taken of such reduction in his service as is attributable to that condition.

(13) But if, in the case of a person who is a member before 1st April 2008, and who has attained the age of 45 before that date, the period to be added under paragraph (2)(b) or (3)(b) is less than the period that would have been added had regulation 28 of the 1997 Regulations applied, then his benefits are increased by adding the latter period.

(14) In this regulation –

“gainful employment” means paid employment for not less than 30 hours in each week for a period of not less than 12 months;

“permanently incapable” means that the member will, more likely than not, be incapable until, at the earliest, his 65th birthday; and

“qualified in occupational health medicine” means—

(a)

holding a diploma in occupational medicine (D Occ Med) or an equivalent qualification issued by a competent authority in an EEA State; and for the purposes of this definition, “competent authority” has the meaning given by the General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualification) Order 2003(1); or

(b)

being an Associate, a Member or a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine or an equivalent institution of an EEA State.

(15) Where, apart from this paragraph, the benefits payable to a member in respect of whom his employing authority makes a determination under paragraph (1) before 1st October 2008 would place him in a worse position than he would otherwise be had the 1997 Regulations continued to apply, then those Regulations shall have effect in relation to him as if they were still in force instead of the preceding paragraphs of this regulation.”.

(1)

S.I. 2003/1250.