1. These Regulations may be cited as the Judicial Pensions (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 8th August 1997.

2. These Regulations shall apply to an election under section 1(2) of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993, written notification of which is received by the appropriate Minister on or after 8th August 1997.

3. Part II of the Judicial Pensions (Miscellaneous) Regulations 1995(2) shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of these Regulations, and in those provisions any reference to a regulation by number alone shall be construed as a reference to the regulation so numbered in the 1995 Regulations.

4. After regulation 4 insert-

"Circumstances in which an office-holder may make an election

4A. Subject to the time limit specified in regulation 5(1), an office-holder to whom section 1(2) of the Act applies may make an election if no payment of pension or other benefit has been made under a judicial pension scheme in respect of service in his last qualifying judicial office.

Circumstances in which a personal representative may make an election

4B.-(1) Subject to the time limit specified in regulation 5(3), a personal representative may make an election in accordance with this regulation if the office-holder had not made an election under section 1(2) of the Act before his death.

(2) Where the office-holder died in service, a personal representative may make an election only if-

(a)no payment of surviving spouse's pension has been made under a judicial pension scheme in respect of the service in the last qualifying judicial office held by the deceased office-holder, or

(b)the amount of surviving spouse's pension which is being paid under such a scheme does not exceed the amount of pension to which the surviving spouse would have been entitled if Part I had applied to the deceased office-holder from the date of death or, where this is not the case, the condition referred to in paragraph (3) is satisfied.

(3) The condition referred to in paragraph (2)(b) is that the surviving spouse had agreed, in respect of the period prior to the making of an election, to accept an amount on account of the pension which he is eligible to receive under an existing scheme which does not exceed the amount of pension to which he would be entitled if Part I had applied to the deceased office-holder from the date of death.

(4) Where the office-holder died after ceasing to hold qualifying judicial office, a personal representative may make an election only if-

(a)the office-holder died within six months of ceasing to hold qualifying judicial office; and

(b)the office-holder had not received any payment of pension or other benefit under a judicial pension scheme in respect of the service in the last qualifying judicial office held by the office-holder.".

5. Omit regulation 5(2), (4) and (5).

6. In regulation 6(4), omit "sections 4(3) and 5 to 8 of".

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Judicial Pensions (Miscellaneous) Regulations 1995. They clarify the position in relation to elections by personal representatives by setting out clearly the circumstances in which a personal representative may make an election. They also provide that where a personal representative makes an election, the whole of Part I of the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993, and not merely those provisions relating to derivative benefits, shall be treated as applying to the deceased office-holder from the date of death (in the case of death in service) or the date of retirement ( in the case of death in retirement).