Article 8 Exercise of discretionary powers on a person's entry into overseas employment

Where a person has entered overseas employment and these rules have become applicable in relation to him, the authority or body by whom he was employed may, within 6 months after the date on which they receive notification from him (or, if the employing authority are not the first fund authority, from the first fund authority) of his election that these rules shall apply to him, exercise in relation to him any discretion which, with a view to increasing the benefits payable to him, it would have been open to them to exercise at the time when he left their employment if he had then retired and had been entitled to a retirement pension.

A decision made in the exercise of any discretion under this rule shall be subject to the limitations and restrictions (if any) and to the right of appeal (if any) to which it would have been subject if the discretion had been exercised on the person's retirement in the circumstances aforesaid.

Where a discretion has been exercised under this rule, the service reckonable immediately before he left his local government employment by the person in whose favour the discretion has been exercised shall be deemed to have been correspondingly increased, and any transfer value that may become payable by virtue of rule 11 shall be calculated accordingly.

Any increase in service, if attributable to a decision under this rule to increase the benefits payable to the person otherwise than by any notional increase or extension of the service reckonable for the purpose of calculating those benefits, or by treating any specified period of non-contributing service as contributing service or, under a local Act scheme, by similarly converting service of one category to service of another category, shall be ascertained by converting the service in respect of which the higher rate of benefit is payable into contributing service in the manner in which non-contributing service is converted into contributing service under section 2(4) of the Act of 1953.

Where the amount of any benefit to which a person becomes entitled under rule 6, or the amount of any transfer value payable in pursuance of rule 11, is increased in consequence of the exercise by an authority or body of any power conferred upon them by this rule, that authority or body shall repay the amount of the increase to the superannuation fund out of which the benefit or transfer value is payable.