Our Ref: LGR85/18/

2 November 1998

445          INDEX

 

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION APPEAL

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME REGULATIONS 1997 (THE 1997 REGULATIONS)

 

1. I refer to your letter of 20 October 1998 in which you appeal to the Secretary of State (under regulation 102 of the 1997 regulations) following Mr XXX’s determination of 25 September 1998.  As the Appointed Person, Mr XXX found that your complaint had not been made to him within six months as required by the regulations.  Nor did he consider it was reasonable for him to extend this period in view of the considerable delay of over 7 years from when the decision, concerning the matter you had referred to him, had been made.

 

2.  It appears that you are asking the Secretary of State to consider whether it was legal for your former employer to terminate your employment in June 1990.  It is noted that you believe it was “illegal to sack employees who are/were on local government Pension Schemes with Insurances policies, whilst certified off sick”.  The Secretary of State’s powers under regulations 102 and 103 of the 1997 regulations are limited, like the Appointed Person’s, to whether the appropriate local government pension scheme regulations have been correctly applied in the given circumstances.  Questions relating to employment issues, such as why, when and how an employee’s employment was terminated, are not matters he can consider as they are not issues relating to the local government pension scheme, but employment issues.  The Secretary of State determines accordingly. 

 

3. 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 concerning their pension benefits which they have failed to resolve.  The address is 11 Belgrave Road, London, SW1 1RB (telephone 0171 233 8080).

 

4. The Pensions Ombudsman may investigate and determine any complaint or dispute of fact or law in relating to the local government pension scheme 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).