Citation, commencement, effect and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.

(2) These Regulations come into operation on 31st August 2024, but this regulation and regulation 2 have effect from 1st October 2023.

(3) In these Regulations—

“ the 2014 Regulations” means the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014;

“ the 2023 Regulations” means the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023( 8);

“ the Committee” has the same meaning as in Schedule 1 (interpretation) to the 2014 Regulations;

“ Scheme year” has the same meaning as in Schedule 1 (interpretation) to the 2014 Regulations; and

“ the Transitional Regulations” means the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014.

(4) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954( 9) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Modification in respect of certain annual benefit statements relating to eligible members

2.—(1) This regulation applies in respect of any person who is—

(a) either—

(i) an “eligible member” under regulation 4A(2) (statutory underpin: general) of the Transitional Regulations;

(ii) a “pension credit member” under regulation 10(1) (pension credit members and survivor members) of the 2014 Regulations; and

(b) not a person to whom paragraph (4)(a) applies.

(2) Where this regulation applies, the provisions listed in paragraph (3) are not to be taken into account for the purposes of preparing an annual benefit statement under regulation 99 (annual benefit statements) of the 2014 Regulations in respect of a Scheme year ending on or before 31st March 2024.

(3) The provisions referred to in paragraph (2) are-

(a) Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 (local government schemes);

(b) all the provisions of the 2023 Regulations (including any amendments made by regulations 2(1), (2), (4) to (6) or 3 of those Regulations to the Transitional Regulations and the 2014 Regulations respectively).

(4) The Committee may determine( 10) that—

(a) this regulation does not apply to a member or class of members, or

(b) paragraph (2) applies to a member or class of members as if for “31st March 2024” there were substituted “31st March 2025”.

(5) A determination under paragraph (4)(a)—

(a) may be made at any point before 1st April 2025; and

(b) has effect from 1st October 2023.

(6) A determination under paragraph (4)(b)—

(a) may be made at any point before 31st August 2025;

(b) may only be made if the Committee considers that it is reasonable in all the circumstances in the case of that particular member or class of members; and

(c) must be notified to any member to which it applies in the annual benefit statement in respect of the Scheme year ending on 31st March 2025.

Amendments to the 2014 Regulations

3.  In Schedule 1 (interpretation) to the 2014 Regulations, in the appropriate place insert insert—

““ eligible member ” has the same meaning as in regulation 4A(2) (statutory underpin: general) of the Transitional Regulations .” ”

Amendments to the 2023 Regulations

4.  In the 2023 Regulations, omit regulation 3(14)(b).

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement changes relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme (“the LGPS (NI)”). They do so by modifying certain statutory provisions contained in or made under the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 (c. 7), which made changes to the transitional protections for certain persons who were members of previous versions of the LGPS (NI) to address unlawful age discrimination of the sort identified in the case of McCloud v Lord Chancellor [2018] EWCA Civ 2844 (“the McCloud Remedy”).

Regulation 2 makes provision about the McCloud Remedy in the context of the annual benefit statements (“ABSs”) that the Committee is required to issue to their active and deferred members every year under regulation 99 of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014. Regulation 2(2) and (3) provides that, where this regulation applies, provisions of the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 and the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 are disapplied for the purposes of preparing ABSs for the Scheme year 2023/24, meaning that the Committee would not be required to include information about the McCloud Remedy in that ABS. This provision has retrospective effect to 1 October 2023, meaning that it will apply in respect of any ABSs that have issued between that date and these Regulations coming into operation. However, regulation 2(4)(a) and (5) enables the Committee to determine that this should not apply in respect of a member or class of members. Regulation 2(4)(b) and (6) also allows the Committee to determine that this regulation should be extended, in respect of a member or class of members, to ABSs for the Scheme year 2024/25.

Regulations 3 and 4 correct an earlier drafting error.