Open consultation Consultation on amendments to the Northern Ireland Judicial Pension Scheme Legislation

Summary

This consultation seeks views on proposed amendments to two pieces of legislation regarding the Northern Ireland Judicial Pension Scheme.

Documents

• Consultation on amendments to the Northern Ireland Judicial Pension Scheme Legislation Adobe PDF (489 KB)
• Equality Screening form- Consultation on amendments to the Northern Ireland Judicial Pension Scheme Legislation Adobe PDF (204 KB)
• Rural Needs Impact Assessment- Consultation on amendments to the Northern Ireland Judicial Pension Scheme Legislation Adobe PDF (159 KB)

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Consultation description

Firstly, we are seeking views on the draft Public Service Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (Judicial Offices) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026. This will amend the Public Service Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (Judicial Offices) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 (which specifies the offices holders which are judicial office holders for the purposes of the Public Service Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2014) by adding additional judicial offices.  The second piece of legislation that we are consulting upon would amend the Judicial Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”). Given the intended inclusion of new offices in the Northern Ireland Judicial Pension Scheme (NIJPS), a technical amendment is required to the 2015 Regulations to allow retrospective collection of member contributions. The draft Regulations would insert a new regulation 13A into the 2015 Regulations, reflecting similar amendments made in England and Wales in December 2024. 

These amendments are required due to recent litigation in the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal (ITFET) in Gibbons and others V Department of Justice, concerning the judicial pension entitlement of legally qualified members of the devolved tribunals for which the Department of Justice (DoJ) is responsible. Following a concession made by DoJ in these proceedings, it is now the intention to enter relevant offices into an appropriate judicial pension scheme, provided that judicial office holders satisfy a particular set of circumstances (as outlined in section 2 of the consultation).