{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/local-government-pension-scheme-amendment-regulations-2015/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/local-government-pension-scheme-amendment-regulations-2015/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2015/755",
  "legislation_title": "The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2015",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/local-government-pension-scheme-amendment-regulations-2015",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations amend the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 (“the 2013 Regulations”) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (Transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations 2014 (“the Transitional Regulations”). Both sets of regulations came substantively into effect on 1st April 2014 and the amendments in these Regulations mostly take effect from that date. Section 3(3)(b) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 provides that scheme regulations may make retrospective provision.\nRegulations 3 to 7 make minor amendments relating to membership and contributions.\nRegulation 8 amends regulation 17 of the 2013 Regulations to reflect an updating of regulations referred to in that regulation.\nRegulation 9 corrects a cross reference.\nRegulation 10 amends regulation 21 of the 2013 Regulations so that members on child-related leave who receive pay which is greater than their assumed pensionable pay accrue benefits on that higher level of pay.\nRegulation 11 adds to the list of circumstances in which administering authorities may close pension accounts and clarifies that a person who has opted out of membership and then re-joins the Scheme in the same employment does not have discretion to keep separate pension accounts.\nRegulation 12 amends regulation 32 of the 2013 Regulations to clarify that a notice can be served before a member fulfils the criteria to make an election, for example so that the member can give notice 3 months before reaching the age of 55 of an intention to draw benefits from that age.\nRegulations 13 and 14 clarify reductions in contractual hours worked due to ill health should not affect the calculation of benefit entitlement and also clarify that an independent registered medical practitioner is not to be considered to have acted in a case merely because a different member of the same practice has acted in that case.\nRegulation 15 amends provisions in the 2013 Regulations relating to death grants payable to persons who have separate categories of membership in addition to active membership. That regulation and regulations 16 and 17 also ensure that benefits payable to survivors are not reduced in cases where members spent some period working reduced hours as a result of the condition from which they died.\nRegulations 18 and 19 amend provisions in the 2013 Regulations relating to survivor pensions payable where the deceased was a deferred pensioner member.\nRegulation 20 updates the reference to a document produced by CIPFA.\nRegulation 21 replaces a reference to “a common rate” with a reference to “a primary rate”.\nRegulation 22 permits administering authorities to allow a period of up to 3 years grace before an employer becomes an “exiting employer” liable to pay an exit payment if it considers that the employer will within that period again become a scheme employer.\nRegulations 23 to 27 make minor amendments relating to administration of the Scheme.\nRegulation 28 amends Schedule 1 to the 2013 Regulations by removing one unnecessary entry, correcting two entries and inserting a definition of “local authority”.\nRegulations 29 to 32 make amendments relating to Scheme employers and appropriate administering authorities to clarify which is the appropriate administering authority for employees of all Scheme employers.\nRegulations 33 to 36 amend the Transitional Regulations.\nRegulation 34 extends the additional membership counted for the purposes of calculating survivor pensions to cover membership covered by all types of voluntary contributions.\nRegulation 35 clarifies that employers with historic liabilities to funds should pay contributions to meet those liabilities even if they are not currently employing any active members contributing to a particular fund.\nRegulation 36 enables a Scheme employer to waive, on any ground, actuarial reductions in cases where members retire before satisfying the “rule of 85”.\nNo impact statement has been produced for this instrument as no impact on business or the voluntary sector is foreseen.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/755/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T23:41:55.900374+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}