{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/parliamentary-pensions-additional-voluntary-contributions-scheme-regulations-1993/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/parliamentary-pensions-additional-voluntary-contributions-scheme-regulations-1993/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1993/3252",
  "legislation_title": "The Parliamentary Pensions (Additional Voluntary Contributions Scheme) Regulations 1993",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/parliamentary-pensions-additional-voluntary-contributions-scheme-regulations-1993",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Regulations—\n“the Pensions Act 1975” means the Social Security Pensions Act 1975;\n“the Taxes Act 1988” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988;\n“the principal Regulations” means the Parliamentary Pensions (Consolidation and Amendment) Regulations 1993;\n“approved scheme” means a retirement benefits scheme approved under Chapter I, Part XIV of the Taxes Act 1988, or such other legislation as may be in force from time to time in respect of such approval;\n“the AVC scheme” means the Parliamentary Pensions Additional Voluntary Contributions Scheme set out in these Regulations;\n“Class A contributor” means any contributor who joined the principal scheme on or after 1st June 1989 or any other contributor who has elected to become a Class A contributor (however termed) under the rules of the principal scheme;\n“Class B contributor” means any contributor who joined the principal scheme on or after 17th March 1987 and before 1st June 1989 and has not elected to become a Class A contributor;\n“Class C contributor” means any contributor who joined the principal scheme before 17th March 1987 and has not elected to become a Class A contributor;\n“contributor” means a person admitted to participation in the AVC scheme in accordance with regulation 4(1);\n“dependant” of a contributor means the contributor’s spouse, and any relevant child or children of the contributor as defined by regulation K3(5) of and Schedule 6 to the principal Regulations;\n“final remuneration” is defined in Schedule 1;\n“free-standing additional voluntary contribution scheme” means an additional voluntary contribution scheme which is an approved scheme to which an employer does not contribute;\n“index” at any time, means the index of retail prices published by the Central Statistical Office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or any successor agreed as appropriate by the Board of Inland Revenue, for the calendar month three months prior to that time;\n“maximum pension” has the meaning assigned to it by regulation 11(2) and Schedule 2;\n“pensionable service” means actual service as a participant in the principal scheme;\n“permitted maximum” for any tax year means the figure specified for that tax year in an order made under section 590C of the Taxes Act 1988;\n“personal pension scheme” means a scheme approved under Chapter IV Part XIV of the Taxes Act 1988;\n“the principal scheme” means the scheme set out in the principal Regulations;\n“retained benefits” means benefits for a contributor derived from—\n(a) retirement benefits schemes approved or seeking approval under Chapter I Part XIV or relevant statutory schemes as defined in section 611A of the Taxes Act 1988, excluding benefits in respect of service;\n(b) funds to which section 608 of the Taxes Act 1988 applies, excluding benefits in respect of service;\n(c) retirement benefits schemes which have been accepted by the Board of Inland Revenue as “corresponding” for the purposes of section 596(2)(b) of the Taxes Act 1988, excluding benefits in respect of service;\n(d) retirement annuity contracts or trust schemes approved under section 620 of the Taxes Act 1988, or personal pension schemes (other than arrangements to which only minimum contributions are paid) which relate or related to relevant earnings from the current employment, or previous employments (including periods of self employment whether alone or in partnership);\n(e) transfer payments from overseas schemes held in a type of arrangement defined in (a) or (d) above, excluding those in respect of service;\nincluding such benefits which have been transferred to another scheme, whether or not in the United Kingdom, but excluding such benefits which relate to service with an unassociated employer which is concurrent with service;\nprovided that:—\n(i) if the total of the retained benefits is less than a pension of £260 those retained benefits may be disregarded; and\n(ii) if the contributor’s earnings in the 12 months after entry to the principal scheme do not exceed one quarter of the permitted maximum, benefits from these sources, other than those transferred into the principal scheme, shall not be classed as retained benefits;\n“retained death benefits” shall mean any lump sum benefits payable on the contributor’s death derived from the sources set out in the definition of retained benefits above, but if the total of retained death benefit is less than £2,500 it may be disregarded; provided that benefits representing a return of the contributor’s own contributions plus interest thereon and benefits derived from a return of funds under retirement annuity contracts approved under section 620 of the Taxes Act 1988 or personal pension schemes may be ignored for this purpose;\n“retirement benefits scheme” means a scheme within the meaning of section 611 of the Taxes Act 1988;\n“service” means service as a Member of the House of Commons or as an office holder or as both a Member of the House of Commons and as an office holder, and includes where appropriate, any increase in reckonable service attributable to sums received by way of transfer value or to the purchase of added years;\n“the Trustees” are the Trustees for the time being of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund;\nand other expressions shall have the same meaning as in the principal Regulations.\n(2) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires:—\n(a) a reference to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation of, or the Schedule to, these Regulations so numbered; and\n(b) a reference in a regulation or Schedule to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph of that regulation or Schedule so numbered.\n(3) The interpretation and application of the definitions set out above and of any other expressions in these Regulations shall be consistent with the AVC scheme being approved as an exempt approved scheme under Chapter I of Part XIV of the Taxes Act 1988.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "1975 c. 60."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "1988 c. 1."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "text": "S.I. 1993/3253."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f4",
      "text": "Section 590C was inserted into the Taxes Act 1988 by the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26), Schedule 6, paragraphs 4 and 18(2)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f5",
      "text": "Section 611A was inserted by the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26), Schedule 6, paragraphs 15 and 18(1)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f6",
      "text": "Section 596(2) was amended by the Finance Act 1989 (c. 26) Schedule 6, paragraphs 8(1), (3), and 18(5)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "added (retrosp) (to 1.12.2000)",
      "affecting": "uksi/2001/2649",
      "affecting_title": "The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) (Pension Sharing) Regulations 2001"
    },
    {
      "type": "subst",
      "affecting": "uksi/1999/780",
      "affecting_title": "The Parliamentary Pension Scheme (Additional Voluntary Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 1999"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2006/920",
      "affecting_title": "The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2006"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2006/920",
      "affecting_title": "The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2006"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2006/920",
      "affecting_title": "The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2006"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2006/920",
      "affecting_title": "The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2006"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/3252/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T13:43:35.544047+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."
}