Dear Sir/Madam

1. I enclose regulations, which the Secretary of State has made under powers contained in section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972. The regulations amend the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997 ("the 1997 Regulations") and come into force on 16 April 2002.

2. The regulations serve three separate purposes but all facilitate the continuance of LGPS membership for staff who transfer out of local authority employment as a result of re-organisation of social care work.

3. Regulation 2 makes minor amendments to earlier regulations, which dealt with transfer payments in respect of staff who transferred to OFSTED on 1 September 2001. (The Local Government Pension Scheme (Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England)(Transfers) Regulations 2001 S.I.2001 No.2866) It provides a longer period for transfer payments to be made to accommodate administrative delays which are arising in practice.

4. Regulation 3 amends regulation 6 of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997, in respect of members transferring to a Care Trust which is designated under the Health and Social Care Act 2001 and which is subject to an admission agreement with the relevant administering authority. It allows such members to remain within the LGPS by dis-applying the bar in regulation 6.1 which would otherwise deny them LGPS membership because of the entitlement they acquire to join the NHS pension scheme.

5. Regulation 4 is a free-standing regulation which deals with transfer arrangements in respect of the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales (CSIW). Under Part VI of the Care Standards Act 2000 the CSIW (a new division of the National Assembly for Wales) will regulate the organisations providing child-minding and day care in Wales. The regulation provides for the calculation and payment of transfer payments in respect of active members of the LGPS who transfer on 1^st April 2002 from local government employment to employment with the CSIW. These members will have the option of taking up civil service terms and conditions and joining the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), or retaining local government terms and conditions with continued membership of the LGPS via an admission agreement with Rhondda, Cynon, Taff County Borough Council. The Schedule to these regulations sets out how the transfer payments either to the PCSPS or to RCT are to be calculated and is intended to ensure equitable transfer credits in the new scheme and fair payment in respect of liabilities being transferred. The calculations are on a similar basis to those applying in England to the earlier transfers to OFSTED.

6. Any comments or questions relating to the application of these changes should be addressed in the first instance to Roisin Macreadie, Local Government Pensions Division, DTLR, Zone 2/E8, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6DE (tel: 020 7944 6017). Electronic enquiries can be sent to [email protected].

The Chief Executive of:

County & District Councils in England

County & Borough Councils in Wales

London Borough Councils

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Bradford City Council

South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council

London Pensions Fund Authority

Environment Agency

The Town Clerk, City of London

Clerk, South Yorkshire PTA

Clerk, West Midlands PTA

The Secretaries of:

Local Government Association

New Towns Pension Fund

Commission for New Towns

LGPC

SOCPO

SOLACE

ALACE

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

Welsh Local Government Association

North Wales Association of Town Councils

Trades Union Congress

UNISON

TGWU

GMB

AEEU

Audit Commission

Government Actuary's Department

ACA

SPPA

NI DOE

AOC

UCEA

Other Government Departments