# The National Health Service Pension Scheme and Injury Benefits (Amendment) Regulations 2009, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/300) (“the 1995 Regulations”), the National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/653) (“the 2008 Regulations”) and the National Health Service (Injury Benefits) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/866) (“the Injury Benefits Regulations”).
Regulation 1 provides for citation, commencement and effect, including that certain provisions of this instrument are to take effect from various dates before the date of commencement.
The remainder of the Regulations are divided into four Parts, with Parts 2 to 4 amending the 1995 Regulations, the 2008 Regulations and the Injury Benefits Regulations respectively, and Part 5 providing that certain persons detrimentally affected by these Regulations may elect for the provisions not to apply to them.
Parts 2 and 3 make similar amendments in respect of both the 1995 Regulations and the 2008 Regulations. They also introduce amendments specific to either the 1995 Regulations or the 2008 Regulations.
The changes dealing with similar issues in Parts 2 and 3—
introduce changes to the way tiered contributions rates for members are assessed for the Scheme year 2009-10 and subsequently (regulations 4, 13, 20, 21, 22 and 55);
introduce a new end-of-year certificate of NHS Scheme pensionable earnings and contributions, for type 2 medical practitioner completion, and GP Practice start-of-year statements of estimated practitioner and Non-GP Provider earnings and contributions, and end-of-year statements for type 2 medical practitioners. (regulations 13(4), 52 and 83);
clarify the benefits payable in respect of a period of re-employment following ill health retirement and the benefits payable in respect of ill-health pensioners whose tier 1 ill-health pension is replaced by a tier 2 ill-health pension including, where appropriate, the payment of statutory interest (regulations 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 19, 29, 32(b) and (c), 48, 50, 54, 61, 62(b) and (c) 79 and 81);
provide for pension debit members to access benefits on health grounds, or after minimum retirement age, with an actuarial reduction and to exchange an amount of pension for lump sum (regulations 14, 23, 32(a), 33(c), 34, 49, 51, 56, 62(a), 63(c), 64, 80 and 82);
clarify the pay on which a lump sum death benefit is paid in respect of a practitioner (regulations 13(3), 67, 69 and 78).
The changes specific to Part 2 are—
the inclusion of a reference to nominated partners in regulations providing for child pensions paid following the death of a pensioner (regulation 8);
the inclusion of a reference to the requirements of the lump sum rule in the Finance Act 2004 in connection with benefits to be commuted on terminal illness (regulation 9);
the authority for the Scheme’s Medical Advisers to make a decision on behalf of the Secretary of State as to whether a deferred member is entitled to commutation of their benefits because of terminal illness (regulation 12).
The changes specific to Part 3 are —
the introduction of a new definition of “non-contributing member” and the revision of the existing definition of “member” to include “non-contributing members” (regulations 16 and 53(b) and (c));
provision for the benefits to be paid on the retirement or death of a non-contributing member (regulations 18, 24 to 28, 30, 31, 33(a) and (b), 35, 36, 37, 39, 40(a), (b), (d) and (e), 41, 42, 44 and 45, 46, 47, 57 to 60, 63(a) and (b), 65, 66(a), 67, 69, 71(a), (b), (d) and (e), 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, and 78);
provision for the amount of service to be used when calculating a child’s pension (regulations 40(c), 43, 71(c) and 74);
provision for abatement to be disregarded in certain circumstances following the death of a pensioner (regulations 38 and 68);
changes cross references in regulations dealing with breaks in service and children’s pensions (regulation 17, and 70);
changes a cross reference in the definition of “active member” (regulation 53(a)).
The changes made to the Injury Benefits Regulations by Part 4—
insert a definition of “ophthalmic provider” (regulation 85);
amends the definition of practitioner to include an ophthalmic provider (regulation 86);
provide for employment and support allowance payable under section 1(2)(a) of the Welfare and Reform Act 2007 (c. 5) to be taken into account in calculating benefits under the Injury Benefits Regulations (regulation 87);
provide when employment and support allowance payable is taken into account in that calculation (regulation 88).
Part 5 provides that deferred members, or members in receipt of a relevant benefit, who are detrimentally affected by these Regulations may elect for the provisions not to apply to them by giving notice within six months of the coming into force of these Regulations (regulation 89).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/381/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-pension-scheme-and-injury-benefits-amendment-regulations-2009/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.