Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (S.I. 2013/2356, “the 2013 Regulations”) to extend the membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme (“LGPS”) to elected members of local authorities in England, including councillors and mayors of county councils, district councils, London borough councils, Combined Authorities, Combined County Authorities and the Greater London Authority.

Regulation 3 inserts a new Part 4 into the 2013 Regulations, bringing elected members and mayors (“elected membership”) within the Scheme. This Part applies the existing Scheme to elected members with certain necessary modifications which are set out in the new Schedule 4.

Regulation 4 amends Schedule 1 to insert new definitions of “elected member”, “eligible councillor” and “eligible mayor”. These definitions identify the classes of individuals who may participate in the Scheme, including members and mayors of local authorities, Combined Authorities, Combined County Authorities, the Greater London Authority, the London Assembly, and certain committees.

Regulation 5 amends Schedule 2 to designate the appropriate Scheme employer for each category of elected member.

Regulation 6 inserts new Schedule 4, which provides detailed modifications to the 2013 Regulations as they apply to elected members. These include treating elected members as employees of the relevant authority for Scheme purposes, modifying provisions on active membership and pensionable pay to reflect the type of allowances paid to elected members, setting rules for the aggregation of benefits where a member has both elected and non‑elected service, modifying the treatment of ill-health retirement and assumed pensionable pay in circumstances specific to elected office-holders, disapplying and adapting provisions relating to flexible retirement, additional pension awards and related areas that are not applicable to these office-holders.

Regulation 7 amends the Local Government Pension Scheme (Transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/525) to clarify the treatment of transfer payments made in respect of elected members, ensuring consistency with the new elected member pension framework and excluding such transfers from the remediable service provisions introduced for other public service pension schemes.

Regulation 8 amends the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. They require schemes made by authorities to specify that basic and special responsibility allowances are pensionable, and require authorities to record employer pension contributions in allowance registers.

Regulations 9 to 28 amend various Combined Authority establishment orders and Combined County Authority regulations. Those instruments establish the relevant Combined Authority or Combined County Authority and make provision about its constitution, including remuneration arrangements for members and office-holders. The amendments ensure that, where a Combined Authority or Combined County Authority pays a “relevant allowance” (an allowance other than travel and subsistence) under those remuneration arrangements, the allowance is treated as pensionable under a scheme made under section 1 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (2013 c.25). The amendments also require the authority to make employer contributions and any other payments required to fund the pension benefits attributable to those allowances.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact is anticipated on the private or voluntary sectors.