Explanatory note

These Regulations consolidate, with amendments, the provisions of the Local Government (Compensation for Premature Retirement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1983, and Part II of the Local Government (Compensation for Redundancy and Premature Retirement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986. Part V of these Regulations replaces extant Part L (injury allowances) of the Local Government (Superannuation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 which is now revoked. These Regulations contain all the provisions relating to discretionary payments.

Part II (enhanced redundancy payments) and Part III (compulsory added years) apply only to those employers listed in Part I of Schedule 1. Part IV provides for a lump sum compensation payment where Part III does not apply and applies to those employers listed in Part I of Schedule 1 and to admission agreement employers. Part V (injury allowances) applies to those employers listed in Part II of Schedule 1 and to admission agreement employers with the exception of Citybus Limited and Ulsterbus Limited.

The main changes are as follows—

• provision for the holder of a joint appointment whose appointment has been terminated because the other holder ceased to hold his appointment may now be considered for a discretionary award under Part III (regulation 5(1)(a)(iii));

• the need to take into account any previous pension rights to determine the maximum added years. Employers must ensure, as far as possible, that appropriate enquiries are made when making an award (regulation 10);

• with effect from 6th April 1988 widowers' annual compensation is payable similar to that of widows (regulations 19(1) and (2) and 20);

• surviving spouses of post retirement marriages of employees awarded compensatory added years may receive part of the annual compensation (regulation 19(3));

• annual surviving spouses' compensation will no longer cease on remarriage or cohabitation (regulation 19);

• with effect from 6th April 1988 children of female employees are provided with the same rights as those of male employees (regulations 21 to 24);

• to comply with overriding disclosure legislation the regulations require employers to notify the award of compensation within prescribed timescales (regulation 26);

• interest is to be added to compensation paid late in certain circumstances (regulation 29);

• the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers' Superannuation Committee has two months in which to recover from an employer the amount of any payment made on its behalf from the pension fund (regulation 30);

• provision is made for a lump sum compensation payment calculated on a sliding scale according to age and completed years of service subject to an overall limit equivalent to 66 weeks' remuneration (regulation 31);

• injury allowances, which were in the Local Government (Superannuation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992, have been included in these Regulations as they are payable by employers and not from the pension fund (Part V). Provision will include death benefits to surviving spouses which will no longer cease on remarriage or cohabitation

Article 19(3)(c) of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 confers express powers to make regulations retrospective in effect. These regulations are to a certain extent retrospective, however, no one will be adversely affected by the retrospective provisions.