Common use of Pooling Arrangements Clause in Contracts

Pooling Arrangements. 4.1 The Pool shall subject to clauses 4.2, 4.4 and 4.5 operate in accordance with the following arrangements: 4.1.1 the Councils’ rates and adjustments certificate (and any future revisions of that certificate) shall be revised by the Actuary to reflect the Councils’ obligation in respect of Employees to be in line with the Scheme Employer contribution rate (including a contribution to past service deficit expressed as a percentage of pay); 4.1.2 the Councils shall restrict increases to the pensionable pay of any Employee to the pay awards agreed by National Joint Council for Local Government Services (or any successor body for local government pay negotiations) unless the Administering Authority agrees otherwise in writing. In the event that any Council awards pensionable pay increases to any of the Employees in excess of this level then that Council shall be responsible for the increased liabilities and the Actuary shall adjust that Council’s rates and adjustments certificate to take account of this; 4.1.3 the Administering Authority shall charge a Council an additional payment in respect of any extra charge on the Fund to take account of any increased liabilities in respect of the Employees as a result of:- 4.1.3.1 the immediate payment of benefits when the Council dismisses any Employee who is an active member of the Scheme by reason of redundancy or business efficiency or where such an Employee’s employment is terminated by mutual consent on the grounds of business efficiency; 4.1.3.2 the immediate payment of benefits with the Council’s consent under Regulation 30(6) of the 2013 Regulations including the costs of the Council waiving any reduction of benefits under Regulation 30(8) of the 2013 Regulations; or 4.1.3.3 the immediate payment of benefits under Regulation 30(5) of the 2013 Regulations including the costs of the Council waiving any reduction of benefits under Regulation 30(8) of the 2013 Regulations; and 4.1.4 any extra charge required by the Administering Authority to cover the actuarial strain on the Fund (as notified by the Actuary in writing) as a result of the immediate payment of benefits when: 4.1.4.1 an Employee who is an active member of the Scheme has his employment with a Council terminated on grounds of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body which renders him both permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of his current employment and not immediately capable of undertaking any gainful employment; or 4.1.4.2 an Employee who became a deferred member of the Scheme on leaving his employment with a Council receives payment of his benefits immediately on grounds of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body which renders him both permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of that employment and unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before normal pension age, or for at least three years, whichever is the sooner. 4.2 The Pooling Arrangements shall only apply to the Employees’ membership of the Fund. For the avoidance of doubt, any pension liabilities in respect of an employee of a Council who is not an Employee shall fall outside the Pooling Arrangements. 4.3 The Pooling Arrangements may be terminated and cease to apply by the Administering Authority or Scheme Employer giving one month’s written notice to the Councils. The Administering Authority may terminate the Pooling Arrangements for one or more Council only, in which case the Pooling Arrangements will remain in force for the other Councils. 4.4 A Council shall automatically exit the Pool with immediate effect: 4.4.1 if it ceases to be a Scheme employer; 4.4.2 if it no longer has an active member of the Fund who is also an Employee; or 4.4.3 if it breaches any of its obligations under the terms of the Pool or the Regulations. If the breach is capable of remedy, the Administering Authority shall first give the Council the opportunity of remedying the breach within such reasonable period as the Administering Authority may specify. 4.5 Where the Pooling Arrangements terminate and cease to apply in accordance with clauses 4.3, 4.4.1 or 4.4.3 then the Council in respect of which the Pooling Arrangements have terminated shall be treated by the Administering Authority as stand-alone Scheme employer. In particular, any payment due from the Council in accordance with the rates and adjustments certificate issued by the Actuary shall be calculated on the assumption that any liabilities relating to the Employees’ membership of the Scheme prior to the date of termination of the Pooling Arrangements are funded as at the date of termination of the Pooling Arrangements to the funding level of the Scheme Employer immediately before the date of termination as determined by the Actuary in accordance with the actuarial assumptions consistent with the most recent actuarial valuation of the Fund before that date (updated to that date as necessary in the opinion of the Actuary). 4.6 Where the Pooling Arrangements terminate and cease to apply in accordance with clause 4.4.2 then the Council shall cease to have any obligation for those Employees other than amounts not yet paid in accordance with clause 4.1. The Scheme Employer shall thereafter have responsibility for the pension funding of that Council’s Employees.