SUPERANNUATION ACT 1972

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME REGULATIONS 1997 (the 1997 regulations)

 

1)      I refer to the appeal by XXX County Council as administering authority (under regulation 105 of the 1997 regulations) to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions against the decision of XXX Council (the council) to include the fees paid to Mr XXX by the Acting Returning Officer and Returning Officer as remuneration within the meaning of the local government pension scheme (LGPS) regulations.

 

2)      Regulation 97 sets out who is responsible for making decisions in the first instance on questions relating to the LGPS.  Where this falls to the Scheme employer, the relevant administering authority may refer the matter to the Secretary of State, under regulation 105, where the Scheme employer has either made a decision or failed to make a decision.  Where the Scheme employer has made a decision as required by regulation 97 the administering authority has six months from the date of notification in which to submit an appeal.

 

3)      You do not dispute that the responsibility for making the decision in the first instance was for the council to make.  The Secretary of State is aware that the council informed Mr XXX, on 10 February 1999, that the fees paid to him as a result of eligible work associated with elections, during his nine year period in the post of Electoral Services Officer up to the point of his retirement in 1998, were superannuable.  The council, in their letter of 11 February 1999, informed the administering authority of their decision.  The council agreed to pay £1,533 to XXX County Council Superannuation Fund in respect of the superannuation contributions payable by both themselves and Mr XXX as a result of treating the fees for this work as pensionable remuneration.  The council asked that the administering authority assess and implement the necessary adjustments to Mr XXX’s pension and bill them accordingly.

 

4)      XXX County Council had six months from the relevant date in which to appeal against the council’s decision.  Regulation 105(3) explains that where a decision has been notified under regulation 98(1), the relevant date is the date of notification of that decision.  In this case the notification was issued by the council to Mr XXX on 10 February 1999, so any appeal against that decision by XXX County Council to the Secretary of State was required statutorily to be made by 10 August 1999.

 

5)      The administering authority’s appeal to the Secretary of State of 24 May 2000 (post mark on envelope 9 June 2000) was therefore outside the statutory six month period.  Accordingly the Secretary of State cannot accept your appeal as a valid application for consideration.