The Public Service Pensions (Valuations and Employer Cost Cap) Directions (Northern Ireland) 2014

The Public Service Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 sets out requirements for the reform of public service pension scheme arrangements in Northern Ireland from 1 April 2015. The reforms carried in the Act are based on the recommendations of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission to make public service schemes sustainable in the long term and more equitable for both public service staff and the taxpayer.

A key recommendation of the Commission was the establishment of a common approach for public service pension scheme valuation and cost control processes. The intention is to aid transparency, effective oversight and analysis of public service schemes, and to help ensure a fair balance of risk between scheme members and the taxpayer is maintained across the schemes for the future.

Sections 11 and 12 of the Act address this recommendation by requiring the Department of Finance and Personnel to produce Directions on Valuation and Cost Cap procedures and which will apply across the new public service pension schemes established under the Act including those for police officers, firefighters, health service workers, teachers, civil servants, local government workers, and devolved judicial offices.