The Railways Pension Scheme Order 1994

MEANING OF WORDS USED

1.  This Rule sets out the meaning of words used in these Rules.

“Basic Pension”	means the annual pension which would be payable to a Member if the following Rules did not apply: Rule 8 (Other Choices for Early Leavers), Rule 10A (General), Rule 12B (GMP Increase), Rule 12C (State Graduated Retirement Benefits) and Appendix 9 to the BR Rules.
“Basic State Pension”	means an amount equal to the yearly rate of the basic state pension for a single person in force during the year in question.
“BR Pension Scheme”	means the BR Pension Scheme established by a trust deed dated 25th November 1985.
“BR Rules”	means the rules as at the commencement date of the Protection Order which govern the BR Pension Scheme.
“Contracted–out Pension”	means, on a specified date in relation to a person who is about to retire: (A) (a) the amount determined under (i) or (ii) of rule 13(2) of the BR Rules; multiplied by (b) whichever is the lesser of (i) the number of years of Contributory Membership after 5th April 1978 together with any additional period of membership granted as a result of a transfer and (ii) 40; plus (B) any pension entitlement by reference to rule 13(5) of the BR Rules; multiplied by the Normal Pension on whichever is the earlier of (a) the specified date and (b) the date of attaining State Pension Age; and divided by the Basic Pension.
“Contributory Membership”	means the aggregate of: (a) in the case of a Member who has at no time been a Part–time Employee the period during which the Member has contributed to the BR Pension Scheme under rule 11 of the BR Rules or, in the case of a Member who is or has at any time been a Part–time Employee, the sum of the periods during which the Member has contributed to the BR Pension Scheme under rule 11 of the BR Rules but with each period multiplied by the proportion which the number of hours per week that the Member was contracted to work in that period bears to the number of hours per week that the Member would have been contracted to work in that period had he been employed full–time; plus (b) in the case of a Member who was a member of the British Railways (Wages Grades) Pension Fund the period during which contributions were paid to the British Railways (Wages Grades) Pension Fund under rule 11 of that Fund or any predecessor to that rule; or (c) in the case of a BR Member who immediately before 1st April 1987 was a member of the New Section the period during which contributions were paid to the New Section under rule 11 of that Fund, or any predecessor to that rule.
“Earnings Cap”	means the amount specified for the purposes of section 590C of the Taxes Act(1).
“Eligible Child”	means: (a) any person who has not reached 18 years of age and who is the Member’s child by marriage or has been legally adopted by the Member; or (b) if the Trustee at its sole discretion so agrees in a specific case any other person who has not reached 18 years of age and who does not fall within (a) above who is the child of the Member or the Member’s spouse, or of a living or deceased relative of the Member and at the time of the Member’s death was dependent wholly or in a large part on the Member for support and the maintenance of his or her accustomed standard of living, or, if the child was born after the Member’s death, would be likely to have become so dependent; or (c) if the Trustee at its sole discretion in any individual case so agrees a person over the age of 18 years who would otherwise fall within (a) or (b) above and who was in full– time education on his or her 18th birthday, so long as he or she so remains or is so handicapped physically or mentally as to be unable to earn a living.
“Eligible Dependant or Dependants”	means any person (up to a maximum of 3) other than an Eligible Child or Eligible Spouse who in the opinion of the Trustee was wholly or in a large part dependent on the Member for 2 years immediately prior to the Member’s death. Any pension paid to an Eligible Dependant is payable at the discretion of the Trustee on such terms as the Trustee decides.
“Eligible Spouse”	means the spouse to whom a Member is legally married and living with at the date of death. If more than one spouse is an Eligible Spouse the Trustee shall in its discretion determine one to be the Eligible Spouse to the exclusion of the others.
“Final Average Basic State Pension”	means the average of the Basic State Pension during the year ending on the date the Member left service with the Participating Employer or reached age 65, if earlier. If the Member was not in service with the Participating Employer for the whole of the last 12 months then the Basic State Pension at the date he left service shall be deemed to continue for the balance of the year.
“Final Average Pay”	means the greater of the average of the Member’s Pay and the Member’s Pensionable Pay during the 12 months ending on the date the Member left employment with the Participating Employer. If the Member was not in employment with the Participating Employer for the whole of the last 12 months, his Pay and Pensionable Pay shall be deemed to continue for the balance of the year for the purpose of calculating his Final Average Pay.
“Forecast GMP”	means (on any specified date): 1 (a) in relation to a Member who left employment with the Participating Employer, or reaches age 65 on the specified date, and where the specified date lies between 1st January and 30th June inclusive: (i) the GMP at the end of the year ending on 5th April (“the said Fiscal Year”) in the previous but one calendar year, updated in accordance with any order made under section 148 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and coming into operation before the end of the calendar year in which the end of the said Fiscal Year falls plus (ii) the amount of GMP which would have accrued to the Member during the interval between the end of the said Fiscal Year and the specified date if the remuneration between the upper earnings limit and lower earnings limit for National Insurance purposes received from the Participating Employ– er in each period of 7 days starting as a Monday (“the Relevant Earnings”) of the said period were equal to times the total of the Relevant Earnings in the said Fiscal Year and any orders made under section 148 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992(2) were ignored; (b) in relation to a Member who left employment with the Participating Employer, dies or reaches age 65 on the specified date, and where the specified date lies between 1st July and 31st December inclusive, an amount calculated as in (a) but with “the said Fiscal Year” meaning the year ending on 5th April in the calendar year prior to that in which the specified date lies; (c) in relation to a Member who has left employment with the Participating Employer, an amount calculated as in (a), if the specified date lies between 1st January and 30th June inclusive, or (b), if the specified date lies between 1st July and 31st December inclusive, but with sub–paragraph (a)(ii) being ignored if the Member left service with the Participating Employer on or before the last day of the said Fiscal Year; and the interval in sub–paragraph (a)(ii) being replaced by the interval between the end of the said Fiscal Year and the date the Member left service with the Participating Employer plus 2 (a) if the specified date lies between 1st January and 5th April inclusive or between 1st July and 31st December inclusive, 7%; or (b) if the specified date lies between 6th April and 30th June inclusive, 14.5%; or (c) such other percentage as may be determined by the Trustee on the advice of the Actuary of the amount ascertained in (1)(a), (1)(b) or (1)(c), as appropriate plus 3 2% (or such other percentage as may be determined by the Trustee on the advice of the Actuary) of the aggregate of (1) and (2) multiplied by the number of years between the specified date and the date the Member attains State Pension Age.
“GMP”	means a guaranteed minimum pension (or accrued right to one) under the Pensions Act. But if during a period of Contributory Membership after 5th April 1978 (a) a Member did not pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions, or (b) no contracting–out certificate was in force in respect of a Member’s employment, then the GMP shall be calculated (except where the Member requests a transfer under Rule 7 (Right to Transfer or “Buy–Out”)) as if Class 1 National Insurance contributions had been paid at the contracted–out rate specified by the Contracting–out Laws throughout the said period. If during a period of Contributory Membership after 5th April 1978, a female Member paid Class 1 National Insurance contributions at a reduced rate, her GMP shall be calculated (except where the Member requests a transfer under Rule 7) as if she had paid such contributions at the contracted–out rate specified by the Contracting–out Laws apart from section 41(3) Pensions Act.
“Guaranteed Level of Benefits”	means the Members' benefits as at 30th September 1994 under the BR Pension Scheme including Appendix 9 (whether vested or contingent), taking no account of any increases in subsequent periods other than increases made to those benefits in line with and in the same proportion as pensions subject to the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971(3).
“Joint Annuitant”	means the person for whose benefit a Member has elected to surrender part of his pension under Rule 8D (Joint Annuitant’s Pension) or the corresponding rule of the BR Pension Scheme or any predecessor scheme.
“Legal Spouse”	means the spouse to whom a Member is legally married at the date of death. If more than one spouse is a Legal Spouse the Trustee shall in its discretion determine one to be the Legal Spouse to the exclusion of the others.
“Member”	means a person who falls within Rule 2 (Membership of the Section).
“Minimum Pension Age”	means the Member’s 60th birthday or such other date as applied to the Member under the British Rail Pension Scheme on 30th September 1991.
“New Section”	means the New Section of the British Railways Super– annuation Fund established by a trust deed executed by the British Railways Board on 21st August 1970(4) .
“Normal Pension”	means the annual pension which would be payable to a Member if the following did not apply: Rule 8 (Other Choices for Early Leavers), the second paragraph of Rule 10A (General), Rule 12B (GMP Increase), Rule 12C (State Graduated Retirement Benefits) and Appendix 9 of the BR Rules.
“Participating Employer”	means the employer with whom the Member was last employed whilst an active member of the BR Pension Scheme or any predecessor scheme.
“Part–time Employee”	means a Member whose employment with the Participating Employer did not qualify as full–time employment.
“Pay”	means (a) in the case of a Member who was remunerated at a fixed rate of pay per week, the Member’s annual equivalent rate of pay and (b) in the case of a Member who was remunerated at a fixed rate of pay per annum, that rate of pay, together in each case with such other remuneration as the trustee to the BR Pension Scheme may have decided (with the consent of the British Railways Board). For a Member who was a Part–time Employee it means the equivalent full–time annual rate of pay.
“Pensions Committee”	means a pensions committee set up as described in the Schedule.
“Pension Trust”	means the pension trust which governs the Scheme.
“Pensionable Pay”	means the Member’s Pay calculated at 1st April prior to the Section Year in question or, if later, the date of joining the BR Pension Scheme. Any retrospective change in a Member’s Pay shall be ignored for the purposes of calculating his Pensionable Pay. Subject to Rule 9A (Members who joined the BR Pension Scheme before 1st June 1989), Pensionable Pay cannot, however, exceed the Earnings Cap for the year in question. If a Member’s Pensionable Pay in any Section Year is less than the Member’s Pensionable Pay was in the preceding Section Year (and for this purpose only taking account of any retrospective change in the Member’s Pay) then the Member’s Pensionable Pay shall be the higher amount until such time as that amount is exceeded in a subsequent Section Year.
“Section”	means the 1994 Pensioners “A” Section.
“Section Year”	means a period of 12 months ending on 30th June.
“State Graduated Retirement Benefit”	means the aggregate of the equivalent pension benefits earned by a Member under the former state graduated pension scheme: (a) during Contributory Membership; (b) in the case of a Member whose equivalent pension benefit was transferred to the New Section, the British Railways (Wages Grades) Pension Fund or the BR Pension Scheme under rule 6 of the respective scheme, during former membership of the other pension scheme mentioned in that rule; and (c) in the case of a Member to whom rule 5 or rule 5A of the BR Rules applies, during any former membership of any one of the following schemes: the GWR, LMSR, LNER (New), LNER (Old), RCS or SR Sections of the British Railways Superannuation Fund, the London Trans– port (Administrative and Supervisory) Staff Superannua– tion Fund, the National Freight Salaried Staff Pension Fund or their predecessors and the British Railways (Wages Grades) Pension Fund in respect of which no payment in lieu has been made and which have not been otherwise preserved.
“State Pension Age”	means age 60 (for a woman) and age 65 (for a man) or such other dates on which state benefits first become payable.

NOTE:For the purposes of these Rules:

(1) in calculating a number of years, fractions of a year shall count proportionately. There shall be deemed to be 52.17 weeks in a year;

(2) in calculating the length of a period of membership or employment, such part of the period (counting the period of membership forward) as does not amount to a number of complete years (“the said period”) shall be counted as a fraction of a year in which:

(a) the denominator shall be 365; and

(b) the numerator shall be:

(i) the number of completed days comprised in the said period if it does not include a 29th February; or

(ii) one less than the number of completed days comprised in the said period if it does include a 29th February.

(3) Copies of the BR Pension Scheme and the British Railways (Wages Grades) Pension Fund can be obtained from Railways Pensions Management Limited, Stooperdale Offices, Brinkburn Road, Darlington DL3 6EH.

(1)

1988 c. 1.

(2)

1992 c. 5.

(3)

1971 c. 56.

(4)

Copies of the British Railways Superannuation Fund can be obtained from Railway Pensions Management Limited, Stooperdale Offices, Brinkburn Road, Darlington DL3 6EH.