Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme (PECRS) and Teachers' Superannuation Fund (JTSF): Commutation of Deferred Benefits: Amendments of Various Legislation

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A decision made 27 February 2015:

Ministerial decision reference MD-C-2015-0028
Decision summary title Commutation of Deferred Benefits Amendment
Decision summary author	Project Director - Pensions		Is the decision summary public or exempt?	Public
Report title Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme (PECRS) and Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund (JTSF) - Commutation of Deferred Benefits Amendment
Report author or name of person giving report	Project Director - Pensions		Is the report public or exempt?	Public
Decision and reason for the decision The Chief Minister decided to amend the relevant PECRS and JTSF legislation in line with that of the Income Tax legislation and allow deferred pensioners the choice to commute their benefits into a lump sum not exceeding £18,000. The Committee of Management of the PECRS has requested an amendment to Regulation 16A of the Public Employees (Contributory Retirement Scheme) (New Members) Regulations 1989 and the Public Employees (Contributory Retirement Scheme) (Existing Members) Regulations 1989. This amendment should also be applied to Article 34A of the Teachers’ Superannuation (New Members) (Jersey) Order 2007 and Article 59B of the Teachers’ Superannuation (Existing Members) (Jersey) Order 2007. The amendment will allow members who have deferred benefits to choose to commute those benefits into a lump sum not exceeding £18,000. This is an increase from the current limit of £5,000. The amendments are requested in order that the PECRS Regulations and JTSF Orders match the changes that have been made through the Income Tax (Amendment No. 44) (Jersey) Law 2014 under Article 131 (13), which came into force on 1st January 2015.
Resource implications There are no financial or staffing implications.
Action required The Project Director – Pensions is requested to instruct the Law Draftsman accordingly.
Signature		Position Senator I J Gorst Chief Minister

Date signed		Effective date of the decision