Our Ref: LGR85/18/
559 INDEX
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION APPEAL
SUPERANNUATION ACT 1972
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME REGULATIONS 1997 (the 1997 regulations)
1. I refer to your letter of 7 May 1999 in which you appeal (under regulation 102 of the 1997 regulations) to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions against the decision of Mr XXX, the Appointed Person. The Appointed Person concluded that the information you received in 1986 was sufficient for you to make a decision about whether to join the local government pension scheme (LGPS). He was therefore unable to uphold your complaint.
2. You explain that in 1986 you became eligible to join the LGPS. Because the hours you worked were based on the number of pupils on the roll you were unsure, from the information provided, how this would affect your final pension should you decide to join the LGPS. You telephoned XXX Pensions Department (the council) for clarification. You understood that your pension would be based on your final working year’s salary. You decided not join the LGPS because you felt that you did not wish to contribute to a scheme for several years when you may have worked 37 hours a week for some of the time but because in your final year your worked 20 hours a week your pension would be based on this. You now understand that this is not the case. You believe that your employer had a duty to ensure that you understood the printed and verbal information they provided. Furthermore you consider that the school and the authority were lax in their treatment of non-teaching staff, since someone came to the school to explain pensions to the teaching staff.
3. The question for decision: The question for decision by the Secretary of State is whether the council were required but failed to ensure that you understood the rules governing the LGPS.
4. Secretary of State’s decision: The Secretary of State’s powers under regulations 102 and 103 are limited, like the Appointed Person’s to whether the statutory rules governing the LGPS have been correctly applied. The Secretary of State accepts that relevant information was made available to you and he agrees with the Appointed Person that this was sufficient on which to base a decision whether to join the LGPS. He notes that the regulations do not require the council to provide written advice in response to a request for clarification. Nor is there anything in the rules that requires them to undertake a verbal presentation about the LGPS. Having considered your complaint, the Secretary of State finds that there is no evidence that the regulations have not been properly applied. His decision confirms that made by the Appointed Person. He is acting judicially and has no power to modify the way the regulatory provisions apply to the facts of the case. Having made his decision he has no power to alter it but you may refer the matter to the Pensions Ombudsman or to the High Court. Because of this the Secretary of State’s officials cannot discuss the case further.
5. This completes the second stage of the internal disputes resolution procedure. The Pensions Advisory Service (OPAS) is available to assist members and beneficiaries in connection with difficulties which they have failed to resolve. Their address is 11 Belgrave Road, London, SW1V 1RB (telephone number 0171 233 8080).
6. The Pensions Ombudsman may investigate and determine any complaint or dispute of fact or law in relation to the LGPS made or referred in accordance with the Pensions Schemes Act 1993. His address is 11 Belgrave Road, London, SW1V 1RB (telephone number 0171 834 9144).