Martin Laker v The Commissioners for HMRC

Decision date: 27 June 2024

Neutral citation: [2024] UKFTT 568 (TC)

Overall AI summary confidence: high

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Short overview

This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.

AI confidence in this short overview: high

This case concerned whether "last year of pensionable employment" in regulation C1(6) of the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations means 12 consecutive months immediately before cessation or an aggregate (365 days) of pensionable employment counted back from the cessation date. The Tribunal held that "year" means an aggregate of pensionable periods totalling 365 days counted back from the date the member ceases employment and, applying that method to Dr Laker's record, found his pension benefits rose by about 2.266%, exceeding the 2.2% threshold, so HMRC's revocation of FP 2012 was upheld.

Ratio decidendi

This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.

AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high

The binding ratio is that "last year of pensionable employment" in regulation C1(6) is identified by stepping back 365 days from the date the member ceases pensionable employment and aggregating pensionable periods within that span; where Regulation L4(2) treats pre-break and post-break service as continuous, the calculation uses the single cessation date rather than separate pre- and post-break years.

Obiter dicta

This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.

AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium

The Tribunal observed, by analogy to other time-aggregation contexts (e.g. holiday weeks), that non-consecutive pensionable periods can be aggregated to form a 12-month total for statutory calculations, and noted contemporaneous NHS guidance, contractual references and BMA/NHSPA practice as consistent with the aggregate/step-back approach—observations which the Tribunal treated as persuasive but not determinative.

Warning

This chunk is lengthy and contains repeated passages of identical material; care was taken to judgment the operative facts and reasoning.

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