Meeting documents

The Committee received a report which sought approval of the discretionary policies that can be exercised by the Councils, as Employers within the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).  The Committee were asked to consider whether to recommend to the respective Full Councils, the Local Government Pension Scheme Discretionary Policy Statement as set out in Appendix 1.

The Committee noted that due to the changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme in April 2014, it was necessary to update the Councils’ Discretionary Policy Statements to reflect the current version of the Pension Scheme.  The discretions proposed aim to minimise the cost to the Councils by not adopting discretions that would result in additional costs, and allow flexibility to Scheme members where this would be at no cost. This was in line with the existing approach adopted by the Councils, and thus this report essentially reaffirms the current discretions, but with the new legislative references.

The Committee considered all of the proposals set out in the report and agreed with all of them subject to the following changes;

1)      A note be added to the Policy Statement explaining that whilst each Authority was required to have its own Discretionary Policy statement, Chiltern District Council and South Bucks District Council have decided that these would be identical.

2)      That wherever the wording "following consultation with the relevant Joint Staffing Committee Co-Chairman" appears in the Policy Statement to replace it with "following consultation with the Joint Staffing Co-Chairmen".  This is to reflect the fact that costs would be shared between both Councils and therefore both Co-Chairmen should be consulted with.

3)      The Transfers in to Fund – Regulation 100(6), page 3 of the Policy Statement - The Committee felt that to use the wording ‘exceptional or extenuating circumstances’ was too vague and therefore agreed that the wording should be changed to read as follows:

"The Council will decline any request to transfer in pension rights after the 12 month limit has been exceeded, unless:

-      there is evidence that the process has commenced prior to the 12 month limit, and

-      the application is made within 3 months of the transfer value being provided by the relevant pension provider".

4)      Aggregation of Deferred Benefits – Regulation 22(7) & (8), page 3 of the Policy Statement - The Committee felt that to use the wording ‘exceptional or extenuating circumstances’ was too vague and therefore agreed that the wording should be changed to read as follows:

"The Council will decline any request to extend the 12 month deadline for non-aggregation of deferred pensions into a concurrent or new LGPS employment unless:

-      there is evidence that the process has commenced within the 12 month limit, and

-      the application is made within 3 months of the employee being provided with the relevant pension information by the relevant pension provider."

5)      Regulation 6 – Discretionary Termination Payments, page 4 of the Policy Statement – The Committee felt that each case should be subject to the consent of the Joint Staffing Committee rather than the Head of Paid Service.

The Committee were advised that UNISON had been informally consulted, however this policy confers no formal contractual rights to employees.

Having considered the Policy Statement set out in appendix 1, the Committee