PART II
PRIMARY PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I
MEMBERSHIP
Eligibility for active membership
General eligibility for membership: employees of Scheme employers etc.
3. - (1) A person
may be an active member only if this regulation or regulation
4 or Chapter I of Part V enables him to be one and
he is not prevented by regulation 5.
(2) A person may be a member if he is employed by a Scheme
employer.
(3) A Scheme employer is a body which is listed in Schedule
2.
Agreements to enable employees of non-Scheme employers to be members ("admission
agreements")
4. - (1) An administering
authority may make an admission agreement with any admission body.
(2) An admission agreement is an agreement that all or
any specified class of the admission body's employees may be members.
(3) An admission agreement may provide that a period of
employment by the admission body before the date of the agreement counts as membership
of the Scheme (or does so for some purposes).
(4) An admission agreement must terminate if the admission
body ceases to be such a body.
(5) An admission agreement may make such other provision
about its termination as the parties consider appropriate.
(6) When an administering authority make an admission
agreement, they must immediately inform the Secretary of State of the admission
body's name and the date the agreement takes effect.
(7) An administering authority and an admission body may
make an admission agreement despite the fact that they do not exercise their functions
in areas which overlap or adjoin each other.
(8) These are admission bodies-
(9) However, a body falls within paragraph (8)(d)(iii)
only if it is formed for the purpose of consultation as to the common interests
of local authorities and the discussion of matters relating to local government.
(10) These Regulations apply to employment with an admission
body in which the employee is an active member in the same way as if the body
were a Scheme employer.
Further restrictions on eligibility
5. - (1) If a person's
employment entitles him to belong to another statutory pension scheme, that
employment does not entitle him to be a member, unless that other scheme was
made under section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972.
(2) A statutory pension scheme is an occupational pension
scheme provided by or under an enactment (including a local Act).
(3) A person may not become a member after his 65th
birthday unless-
(a) his total membership does not exceed his permitted maximum; and
(b) he is a permitted late member.
(4) The permitted maximum for a Class A member is
40 years.
(5) The permitted maximum for a Class B member or a
Class C member is the sum of-
(a) his total membership before he attained 60 or, if less, 40 years, and
(b) his total membership since he attained 60,
or, if less, 45 years.
(6) A permitted late member is a person to whom-
(a) a pension which must be the subject of a policy formulated under regulation 110 (statements of policy concerning abatement of retirement pensions in new
employment);
(b) an ill-health grant under regulation 26(3)
or an ill-health retirement grant under regulation E4 of the 1987 Regulations
or regulation E21 of the 1974 Regulations; or
(c) a short service grant under the Benefits Regulations,
has become payable or who is entitled to or has received relevant compensation.
(7) Relevant compensation is compensation which-
(a) is payable under any enactment for loss of employment or loss or reduction
of employment benefits attributable to an enactment; and
(b) is liable to be reduced or suspended by reason of the person to whom it
is payable entering employment with a Scheme employer, in the same way as it
would have been if he had remained eligible to belong to the occupational pension
scheme to which he belonged or was eligible to belong immediately before suffering
the loss.
(8) If a person has been entitled to an ill-health
pension calculated by reference to an enhanced membership period, that period
is counted as part of his total membership for paragraphs (3) and (5).
(9) Part-time employment as a member of a fire brigade
maintained in pursuance of the Fire Services Act 1947 on terms under which the
employee is or may be required to engage in fire-fighting does not entitle the
employee to be a member of the Scheme.
Joining and leaving the Scheme
Joining the Scheme
6. - (1) A person
who wishes to become an active member must apply in writing to his employer
or future employer.
(2) An eligible person who applies before he begins
his employment becomes a member when his employment begins unless he applies
to join later.
(3) An eligible employee who applies becomes a member
on the first day of the first payment period following the application.
(4) A payment period is a period of service to which
the employee's wages or salary payment relate.
(5) An employee is deemed to have applied to become
a member, unless he notified his employer in writing that he did not wish to
become a member-
(a) before his employment began; or
(b) if he only became eligible to be a member later, before the date he became
eligible.
(6) Paragraph (5) does not apply to-
(a) casual employees; or
(b) former members who opted to leave the Scheme by a notification under regulation
7.
(7) An application for membership may be withdrawn
before membership begins.
(8) A former active member may reapply for membership.
(9) Notwithstanding paragraph (8), a person who has
given more than one notification under regulation 7 may reapply again only if-
(a) his employer or future employer consents;
(b) he is beginning a new employment with a new employing authority and he reapplies
before he has been employed for three months; or
(c) he is an individual who during any period has been eligible to be a member
but has instead made contributions to a personal pension scheme and has suffered
loss as a result of a contravention which is actionable under section 62 of
the Financial Services Act 1986 (actions for damages in respect of contravention
of rules etc. made under the Act).
Leaving the Scheme
7. - (1) A person
may leave the Scheme if he wishes and stops being a member if he stops being
eligible for membership.
(2) A person who wishes to leave the Scheme must notify
his employer in writing.
(3) A member who gives such a notification stops being
a member from the date the notification specifies.
(4) However, if a date earlier than the notification
or no date is specified, he stops being a member at the end of the payment period
during which the notification is given.
(5) Where notification is given by a person before he
has been a member for one month, he must be treated as not having been a member
in that period.