23
October 1998 REF:
To:
Pension Scheme Circular 08/98 To all Employing Authorities
Dear Sir/Madam
Local Government (Superannuation) (Interchange) Regulations (Northern
Ireland) 1998
The above Regulations have now been circulated by the Department of the
Environment for Northern Ireland and come into operation on 16 November 1998.
The Regulations deal, in the main, with the calculation and payment of transfer
values and therefore do not directly affect employing authorities. NILGOSC has
been anticipating these regulations and calculating transfers on a cash
equivalent basis since 1988.
However, Part III of the Regulations abolishes the waiting year for manual
employees with effect from 1st October 1989.
The Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, in a letter dated 25
September 1989, gave employing authorities permission to anticipate this
provision by allowing any manual employee who was serving a 12 month waiting
period to join the Scheme from 1 October 1989, and any person recruited after
that date to join from his first day of employment. This letter was forwarded
to all employing authorities under cover of our circular dated 29 September
1989.
We are aware that not all employing authorities anticipated this regulation
immediately. If your authority did not implement this provision from 1 October
1989, you will now have to offer any employee who was serving a waiting period
on that date, or who subsequently served all or part of a 12 month waiting
period, the option to back-date his service to that date.
Back-dated contributions should be based on the pensionable pay for the period
concerned. Please note that the employer's contribution rate at that time was
9%. It is expected that employing authorities will remit the full amount of
contributions (i.e. employee and employer) to NILGOSC as soon as possible,
together with a note of the individuals affected and period of service to be
back-dated. Arrangements for recovering the employees' share is left to
employing authorities' discretion.
/Contd.
- 2 -
CIRC 08/98 /Contd.
If you have any queries regarding the Local Government (Superannuation)
(Interchange) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998, our staff will be pleased to
advise you.
To confirm that you have received this circular, please complete and return the
attached form.
Yours faithfully
D W MORRICE
DEPUTY SECRETARY
DWM/AM
N I L G O S C
NORTHERN IRELAND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
OFFICERS' SUPERANNUATION COMMITTEE
PENSION SCHEME CIRCULAR CONFIRMATION FORM
I acknowledge receipt of Pension Scheme Circular No. 08/98 issued on 23 October
1998 on the Local Government (Superannuation) (Interchange) Regulations (NI)
1998 and confirm that the requirements of the regulations will be applied to
all manual employees affected by the amendments.
Signed: _____________________________ Date: _____________
Job Title: _____________________________________________________
Employing Authority: ____________________________________________
Please complete and return to:
N I L G O S C
Templeton House
411 Holywood Road
BELFAST
BT4 2LP
July
07, 1999 09:33 PM