9 September 2003

Dear Sir/Madam

I enclose regulations which the Secretary of State has made under powers contained in sections 7 and 12 of the Superannuation Act 1972. The regulations amend the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997.

Regulation 2 and the schedule take account of new entitlements to paternity and adoption leave provided for by the Employment Act 2002. The new entitlements, among other matters, set out how such leave is to be treated for the purposes of accruing membership in the LGPS. The amendments will be relevant to the circumstances of a member who is either on adoption or paternity leave, and they set out when contributions are to be made by the member and whether membership is to be counted as continuous or not. These amendments have retrospective effect from 8 December 2002.

Regulation 3 makes a minor correction to amendments introduced by SI 2003 No.1022 regarding the first year for determining career average pay for councillor members.

Any queries should be addressed in the first instance to Elizabeth Bickford, Local Government Pensions Division, ODPM, Zone 2/E8, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6DE. Electronic enquiries can be sent to [email protected]

Yours faithfully,

The Chief Executive of:

County Councils (England)

District Councils (England)

Metropolitan Borough Councils (England)

Unitary Councils (England)

County and County Borough Councils in Wales

London Borough Councils

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Bradford Metropolitan City Council

South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council

London Pensions Fund Authority

Environment Agency

Town Clerk, City of London Corporation

Clerk, South Yorkshire PTA

Clerk, West Midlands PTA

The Secretaries of:-

Local Government Association

LGPC

EO

SOCPO

SOLACE

ALACE

CIPFA

New Towns Pension Fund

Trades Union Congress

UNISON
TGWU

GMB

Audit Commission

UCEA

Other Government Departments

GAD

DoE (NI)

SPPA