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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement changes relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme (“the LGPS”). They do so by amending—

  • the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/2356, “the 2013 Regulations”), which establish the current version of the LGPS;

  • the Local Government Pension Scheme (Transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/525 “the 2014 Regulations”), which preserve benefits accrued under previous versions of the LGPS and make transitional provision (including transitional protections for certain persons who were members of previous versions of the LGPS (“the statutory underpin”));

  • the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/972 “the 2023 Regulations”), which made changes to the statutory underpin to address unlawful age discrimination of the sort identified in the case of McCloud v Lord Chancellor [2018] EWCA Civ 2844 (“the McCloud remedy”).

These Regulations also amend the Local Government Pension Scheme (Discretionary Payments) (Injury Allowances) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2954, “the Injury Allowances Regulations”).

Regulation 2 amends regulation 7 of the Injury Allowances Regulations to disapply the requirement for a qualifying cohabitee to have been nominated in order to be eligible for discretionary death benefits.

Regulations 4(1), 6(1)(a), 10, 11, 27, 28, 32(1)(d) and (f), 41 and 43 amend regulations 11, 15, 20, 67 and 69 of, and Schedule 1 to, the 2013 Regulations and regulation 8 of, and Schedule 2 to, the 2014 Regulations, and insert a new regulation 21A into the 2013 Regulations, to provide that unpaid authorised absences of less than 15 days (other than for illness or injury) are automatically pensionable as if the member had been paid. Regulation 4(2) provides that these changes will apply in relation to any period of leave that starts on or after 1st April 2026.

Regulations 5(1), 6(1)(b), 7(1)(i) and 32(1)(b) amend the definition of “child-related leave” in the 2013 Regulations so that it includes additional maternity leave, additional adoption leave and shared parental leave during which the member receives no pay. This means that all additional maternity or adoption leave and shared parental leave is fully pensionable, with no contributions payable by the scheme employee for any parts of this that are unpaid (with regulations 5(2), 6(2), 7(2) and 32(2) providing that these changes will apply in relation to any period of additional maternity or adoption leave or shared parental leave where the unpaid period starts on or after 1st April 2026). Regulation 32(1)(e) also amends the definition of “paternity leave” to ensure that this will cover bereaved partners paternity leave when this is introduced on 6th April 2026.

Regulations 6(1)(c) to (e) and (3), 7(1)(a) to (h), 8 and 32(1)(g) amend regulations 15 and 16 of, and Schedule 1 to, the 2013 Regulations, and insert a new regulation 16A into the 2013 Regulations, to provide that if a member pays additional pension contributions to cover an eligible period of unpaid leave within the relevant time period it will be “qualifying additional pension”. That will mean that the level of contributions payable by the member and the Scheme employer is equivalent to the contributions that would have been paid if the member had not been absent on unpaid leave for that period. Regulation 14 amends regulation 30 of the 2013 Regulations to provide that, if a member is made redundant after reaching the age of 55, qualifying additional pension is not actuarially reduced when they are required to take early payment of their pension. Regulations 17(a)(i) and (b), 18(a)(i), (b), (c)(i), (d), (e)(i), (f), (g)(i) and (h), 20(a), 21(a) to (d), 23(a) and 24(a) to (e) also amend regulations 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 and 48 of the 2013 Regulations to provide that qualifying additional pension will be taken into account when calculating survivor benefits.

Regulation 9 also amends regulation 17 to remove administrative restrictions on how additional voluntary contributions can be paid out following the death of the member, and to make a minor change for consistency with regulation 33(2) as amended by the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/493).

Regulations 12, 13, 17(a)(ii), (b) and (c), 18(a)(ii), (b), (c)(ii), (d), (e)(ii), (f), (g)(ii)(h) and (i), 20(b), 21(e), 23(b) and 24(f) make minor amendments to regulations 25, 27, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47 and 48 of the 2013 Regulations, following amendments made by S.I. 2023/273 in relation to the revaluation adjustment, to correct minor errors in the drafting of those provisions.

Regulations 15, 25, 29(1)(b) and 32(1)(a) and (h) make amendments to the 2013 Regulations consequential on the abolition of the lifetime allowance. Regulation 35(1)(b) amends regulation 3 of the 2014 Regulations in order to insert a new paragraph (5H) which applies similar consequential changes to earlier Scheme regulations (which are revoked but preserved by the 2014 Regulations in relation to benefits that have previously been accrued).

Regulations 16(1)(a) and 22(1)(a) amend regulations 40 and 46 of the 2013 Regulations to provide that death grants may be payable in respect of members who die after having attained the age of 75. Regulations 16(1)(b), 19(1) and 22(1)(b) also amend regulations 40, 43 and 46 to remove administrative restrictions on who the death grant can be paid to after two years. These changes are backdated to 1st April 2014. Regulation 29(2) provides that interest is payable on any death grants in respect of members who died between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2026 under regulation 81 of the 2013 Regulations. Regulations 16(2), 19(2)22(2) provide that the changes to administrative restrictions do not apply in relation to any death grants that were paid to a deceased member’s personal representatives before 1st April 2026.

Regulation 26 amends regulation 62 of the 2013 Regulations to require the triennial actuarial valuations to include information on the gender pension gap within the fund.

Regulations 29(1)(a), 47 and 48 amend the 2013 Regulations and the 2023 Regulations to provide for treatment of interest on payments relating to the McCloud remedy.

Regulation 30 amends regulation 96 of the 2013 Regulations to clarify that the provisions around transfer payments apply in the same way to pension credit members as they do to other members.

Regulation 31 amends regulation 97 of the 2013 Regulations to remove references to cohabiting partner’s guaranteed minimum pensions (as the overriding legislation does not provide for cohabiting partners to be entitled to guaranteed minimum pensions).

Regulation 33(a) amends the 2013 Regulations to provide that Combined County Authorities are automatically treated as “Scheme employers” for the purposes of Part 1 of Schedule 2. This amendment has retrospective effect to 28th February 2024, which is the date on which the first Combined County Authority was established in England. Regulation 33(b) makes a consequential change to ensure that all companies under the control of Scheme employers listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 may also be Scheme employers under Part 2 of Schedule 2.

Regulation 35 amends regulation 3 of the 2014 Regulations. The 2014 Regulations revoked all of the regulations constituting the versions of the LGPS that were in force before 1st April 2014, but preserved them for the purposes of enabling the pension rights accrued under those regulations to be preserved and paid out. The amendments to regulation 3 of the 2014 Regulations made by regulation 35 modify the earlier regulations, and in the case of the amendments made by regulation 35(1)(a) have retrospective effect to before 1st April 2014.

  • New regulation 3(5B) of the 2014 Regulations modifies the preserved Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1166) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/238) to disapply the requirement that a qualifying cohabitee must have been nominated by a member in order to be entitled to receive survivor benefits in the case of that member’s death. New regulation 3(5C) makes similar modifications in respect of the preserved Local Government Pension Scheme (Administration) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/239).

  • New regulations 3(5D), (5E) and (5F) modify provisions for survivor pensions in the earlier LGPS schemes, in respect of members who died on or after 5th December 2005, to provide that the specified survivors receive equivalent survivor benefits to the female survivor of a male married member plus additional benefits that would have been available if the member had been in a same-sex civil partnership.

  • New regulation 3(5G) further modifies the earlier local government pension schemes to remove administrative restrictions on who administering authorities can pay a death grant to after the period two years after the member’s death. Regulation 35(2) provides that these modifications do not apply in relation to any death grants that were paid to a deceased member’s personal representatives before 1st April 2026.

  • New regulation 3(5I), which does not have retrospective effect, modifies the rules around payment of children’s short-term pensions under the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/1019) and the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/1612) to provide for these to stop if the recipient ceases to be a child (in order to avoid unauthorised payments under the Finance Act 2004 (c. 12)).

Regulations 36 and 40 make minor updates to clarify the drafting of regulations 4F and 4P of the 2014 Regulations.

Regulations 37, 38 and 39 amend regulations 4G, 4J and 4I of the 2014 Regulations to provide an underpin date for persons who have transferred-in remediable service after the age of 65.

Regulation 42 amends regulation 17 of the 2014 Regulations to equalise survivor benefits for spouses and civil partners, regardless of the sex or sexual orientation of the member or survivor, and to remove the prohibition on paying a death grant in respect of a member who had reached the age of 75. Regulations 29(2) and (3) provide that if any person is entitled to a greater amount of death grant or survivor pension in respect of a member who died before 1st April 2026 as a result of these changes, interest is payable on that additional amount under regulation 81 of the 2013 Regulations.

Regulation 45 amends the 2023 Regulations to clarify how the McCloud remedy applies in respect of persons who died on 30th September 2023.

Regulation 46 amends regulation 12 of the 2023 Regulations to ensure that, where an adjustment is made to a pension credit as a consequence of the McCloud remedy, a corresponding adjustment can be made to the relevant pension debit. It also provides for payments to be made to or in respect of pension credit members within scope of the McCloud remedy who had died, or trivially commuted or transferred-out their benefits, before 1st October 2023.

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