Part time members may work a regular pattern of part time hours, or their hours may vary on a weekly/monthly basis (average hours).

A member is part time if either:

• The member's contract of employment states that the member is part time for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) purposes; or
• That the member is neither full time nor variable time.

When determining the amount of benefits, we use:

• Pre 31 March 2014 benefits – reduced membership based on the contractual part time hours and full time equivalent final salary pay.
• Post 1 April 2014 benefits – actual part time pay earned each posting year.

When informing us of a new starter who is part time please include a ‘P’ indicator on your i-Connect submission.

A variable time member must satisfy both of the following conditions:

• The member's contract of employment states the member is variable time for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) purposes; and
• Either the employer calculates the member's pay by reference to their duties (rather than by the number of hours worked), or the member has to perform the duties of the post only occasionally.

Examples of variable time members are returning officers and examination invigilators. This definition is narrow, and it is unlikely that many members would meet it.

When determining the amount of benefits, we use:

• Pre 31 March 2014 benefits – calendar length membership and an average of the actual pay for final pay purposes
• Post 1 April 2014 benefits – actual pay earned each financial year.

When informing us of a new starter who is variable time please include a ‘C’ indicator on your i-Connect submission.

An employment can be full time, part time or variable time as well as casual. So, a person employed as a casual over the normal full time working hours of one day is a full time casual member for that day.

It is for employers to decide which, if any, members are casuals. However, employers should be able to justify these decisions and should ensure that they apply the same principles consistently to all members.

A typical pattern of casual employment involves:

• Irregular, short periods of employment. These periods of employment can end without notice. No contract of employment exists in the periods in between where the member is not working.
• The expected length of the contract is no more than one month.
• The length of continuous employment (as defined in Chapter I of Part XIV of the Employment Rights Act 1996) is also no more than one month.

As a casual employment involves an irregular succession of short contracts of employment (not a single open ended contract of employment) casual members are only considered to be members of the Scheme on the days they work.

When informing us of a new starter who is casual time please include a ‘C’ indicator on the new starter validation spreadsheet or your i-Connect submission.

If a member works term time only, we do not pro rata membership according to the actual term time weeks a person works. Instead, we use normal calendar length membership, based on their part time hours if appropriate, but when calculating their benefits we base them on the actual term time pay. This is the most reasonable method as otherwise the pay figure would be exaggerated and would not reflect what the member could earn if they worked full time in their term time role.

If a member works term time only then any information you provide should always reflect the term time only figures for the member. These figures should not be equated up to a full year figure.

An employee is considered to be an average hours member if they are employed on a part time basis and:

• Their hours vary from week to week; or
• Their hours change frequently; or
• Their contract is for a 12 month fixed term, within which their hours vary from week to week. There may be some weeks when the member does not work, but they are still under contract.

Under the current regulations, employees with a contract of employment of less than three months duration can opt to join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) from 1 October 2012. The relevant regulations are:

• Regulation 2 of the LGPS (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) regulations 2007 , known as the Benefits Regulations (BR).
• Regulation 13 of the LGPS (Administration) Regulations 2008 , known as the Administration Regulations (AR).