LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME APPEAL

 

SUPERANNUATION ACT 1972

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION REGULATIONS 1997 (the 1997 regulations)

 

1)      I refer to your letter of 21 February 2000 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, in relation to your local government pension scheme (LGPS) dispute with XXX (the council).

 

2)      The Appointed Person upheld the council’s method of calculating your pensionable pay as a part-time employee.  You maintain that the council should treat your additional payments for Sunday and Bank Holiday and split duty allowance in the same way as they treat your basic pay for the purpose of calculating the whole-time equivalent pay.

 

3)      The question for decision: The question for decision by the Secretary of State is whether the council have correctly calculated your pensionable pay.

 

4)      The Secretary of State has considered all the representations and evidence.  Copies of documents supplied by the Appointed Person were sent to you under cover of the Department’s letter of 15 March 2000.

 

5)      Secretary of State’s decision:  The Secretary of State has taken into account the appropriate regulations.  He finds that in the particular circumstances of your case, the council should treat you as a whole-time employee and therefore use your actual contractual earnings in your final year of employment as your pensionable pay.  The Secretary of State’s decision replaces that made by the Appointed Person.  His reasons and the regulatory provisions which he considers apply in your case are set out in the annex to this letter, which forms an integral part of this decision.  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 and his officials cannot discuss the case further.  The decision is binding and can only be overturned by a judgement of the High Court or the Pensions Ombudsman.

 

6)      This completes the second stage of the internal dispute 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 020 7233 8080).

 

7)      The Pensions Ombudsman may investigate and determine any complaint of maladministration or any dispute of fact or law in relation to the LGPS made or referred in accordance with the Pension Schemes Act 1993.  His address is 11 Belgrave Road, London, SW1V 1RB (020 7834 9144).