SUPERANNUATION ACT 1972

LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPERANNUATION REGULATIONS 1974 (“the 1974 regulations”)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME REGULATIONS 1997 (“the 1997 regulations”)

1. I refer to your letter of 11 April in which you appeal (under regulation 102 of the 1997 regulations) against the decision of Mr XXX, the Appointed Person for XXX Council. The Appointed Person considered that the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure is concerned with decisions taken under the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1995 or subsequent regulations and that any disagreement had to be made within six months of the relevant date. He determined that the decision on your status was the relevant event and this had taken place in 1984 under the 1974 regulations. He considered the correct appeal procedure was to refer the matter to the Secretary of State.

2. The question you have asked the Secretary of State to consider is whether in 1984 when you became a Care Assistant you should have been classified as a manual worker for the purposes of the 1974 regulations.

3.The Secretary of State has considered all the representations and evidence. Copies of all the documents supplied by XXX Council have been sent to you under cover of the Department’s letter dated 30 April 1998.

4.The Secretary of State notes that the Appointed Person determined that he could not consider the matter as the relevant event took place in 1984, when you became a Care Assistant, and that the 1974 regulations applied. The Secretary of State accepts that where a disagreement is referred to the Appointed Person it must be made within six months of the relevant date. However the regulations do allow an Appointed Person to accept disagreements outside this time limit if they consider it reasonable. It is the Secretary of State’s view that the Appointed Person is not limited to considering matters which relate to the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1995 or later regulations. The Appointed Person can if he so decides consider disagreements referred to him which fall to be considered under earlier regulations.

5. The Secretary of State notes that when you commenced employment with the council on 13 June 1983 you were a full-time Welfare Rights Advisor. You joined the local government pension scheme (LGPS) and were classified as an officer for the purposes of the 1974 regulations. On 29 April 1984 you transferred to full-time Care Assistant remaining as an officer until 1994 when the council reclassified your status as a manual worker with effect from 6 April 1994. The staff side appealed to the council for the decision to be further backdated and it was reconsidered on 16 November 1995. It was resolved that the decision to reclassify Care Assistants as manual workers with effect from 6 April 1994 be reaffirmed.

6. The Secretary of State takes the view that for him to consider a matter on appeal it should be referred to him within a reasonable time of the relevant event. He has therefore considered when the relevant event, in his view, occurred. He notes that in 1984 when you became a Care Assistant you were classified as an officer for the purposes of the 1974 regulations. He further notes that all Care Assistants were classified by the XXX Council as officers for the purposes of the LGPS. You consider that you should have been classified as a manual worker. He further notes that in 1994 the council reclassified you as a manual worker for the purposes of the LGPS from 6 April 1994. The staff side appealed against this decision which was considered by the council in November 1995, but the decision was taken to reaffirm the earlier decision. The Secretary of State takes the view that the relevant date is the earliest date a member of the LGPS was made aware of the act or omission which is the cause of the disagreement. It appears to the Secretary of State that on appointment as a Care Assistant in 1984 you were classified as an officer for the purposes of the 1974 regulations and that this constituted the relevant event. At that time you had a right of appeal to the Secretary of State and it appears that you did not appeal. The Secretary of State notes that you have not argued that the relevant date was April 1994 when you were reclassified as a manual worker for the purposes of the LGPS nor November 1995 when the council determined not to backdate the reclassification of Care Assistants to the date they commenced employment. The Secretary of State considers that an appeal should be made within a reasonable time. Whilst it is not possible to state what a reasonable time is, as this will be dependent on the circumstances of a case, he does not consider it reasonable in this case, even if the relevant date was taken as November 1995, to consider a matter which was not referred to the Appointed Person for 27 months after that date.

7. Secretary of State determination: The Secretary of State takes the view that in this case there have been a number of occasions when an appeal could have been referred to him, in 1984, 1994 and 1995. He concludes therefore that your appeal has not been made within a reasonable time for him to consider.