Public Service Superannuation Scheme Act

This Act may be cited as the Public Service Superannuation Scheme Act.

Section be closed at the death of the member.

Establishes the Public Service Superannuation Scheme named the "Public Service Superannuation Scheme."

Section pay retirement benefits to members of the Scheme.

Persons meeting the conditions in subsection (1)(a) or (1)(b) shall be members of the Scheme; members (except certain retired members) who leave the public service shall cease to be members.

Members must contribute 7.5% of monthly pensionable emoluments; the Government must contribute at least 15% and must provide life insurance equal to at least five times annual pensionable emoluments; commencement date set by Cabinet Secretary notice in the Gazette.

Members of the Scheme may make additional voluntary contributions (subject to Board guidelines), and members must instruct the Government to deduct any such contribution from their monthly pensionable emoluments (subject to guidelines under subsection (1)).

The Government must deduct a member’s monthly contribution from the member’s monthly salary.

Section 10 establishes the Board of Trustees, lists members including ex officio Chief Executive Officer who shall not be entitled to vote, grants the Board powers to sue and hold property, allows the Board to co-opt up to two non-voting persons, and states trustees have duties and accountability under the Trustee Act (Cap. 167).

The Board collects contributions of members.

Trustees appointed under section 10(1)(g) must be chosen for their knowledge or experience in administration of scheme funds, banking, insurance, law or actuarial studies; persons convicted of certain offences, adjudged bankrupt, or disqualified under other written law are barred from appointment.

The Chairperson and specified Trustees serve three-year terms and may be re-appointed once; a non–ex officio Trustee ceases to be a Board member if they resign by a written notice to the Cabinet Secretary.

If a Trustee appointed under section 10(1)(g) leaves before their term ends, the Cabinet Secretary must, on the nominating body's recommendation, appoint a similarly qualified person to serve the rest of the term.

The Board must meet at least four times each financial year with no more than four months between meetings; quorum is two thirds of Trustees including at least two member and two employer representatives; decisions are by majority unless unanimous, with the Chairperson having a casting vote on ties; the Board may invite non-members to deliberations (they may not vote) and may regulate its own procedure.

The Board may create committees of its members, co-opt non-members for particular reasons, determine their term, and committees may regulate their own procedure subject to Board direction.

Board members who have a private interest in a matter discussed at a Board or committee meeting must disclose that interest as soon as practicable after the start of the meeting and must not participate in consideration, discussion, or voting on that matter unless the Board directs otherwise; failure to disclose can lead to disqualification from office.

The Chairperson and the Trustees are entitled to be paid sitting allowances or other remuneration for expenses, as approved by the Cabinet Secretary.

The Board must be accountable to the Government and members of the Scheme and has powers to manage the Fund's assets, determine expenditures and reserves, receive contributions and authorize custody/investment/payment, enter into associations, subcontract functions, give directions, and take other actions necessary to implement the Act.

The Board must appoint a Chief Executive Officer after a competitive recruitment; the CEO must meet a ten-year managerial-experience requirement and is responsible to the Board for managing the Fund, handles day-to-day management subject to Board directions, and serves as Secretary to the Board of Trustees.

The Board may appoint officers or staff as necessary for its functions and may determine their terms and conditions of service.

The Board may delegate, by resolution, the exercise of its powers or performance of its functions to the Chief Executive Officer or to an officer, employee or agent of the Board.

The Board may direct custody of its common seal and may order its use; the Fund's common seal, when affixed and duly authenticated, must be judicially and officially noticed, and Board authorizations under this section are presumed until proved otherwise.

Establishes the Public Service Superannuation Fund and provides that the Fund vests in, and is to be operated and managed by, the Board.

The Administrator must set up and maintain a retirement savings account for every member in the member’s name; members may not access or deal with the Custodian regarding that account except through the Administrator; the Custodian must notify the Administrator of contributions remitted under sections 6 and 7, and the Administrator must credit those contributions to the member's account.

Benefits from a member’s contributions vest immediately in the member; government contributions vest in dependants if the member dies in service or in the member if the member retires at age fifty; a member may not withdraw benefits vested under subsection (2) until retiring under section 27.

Section title: 'Section 26. Withdrawal from the retirement savings account' and text: 'his contribution and accrued interest in full, on leaving employment for any other reason; and'.

A member who retires under subsection (1) is entitled to make withdrawals in accordance with section 28.

A member may, on written request to the Administrator, withdraw a lump sum (but not exceeding one third of the retirement savings balance) and may withdraw additional voluntary contributions and accrued interest in full; alternatives include actuary-calculated periodic withdrawals from the Fund or purchasing a life annuity.

Members must provide the Administrator with particulars of themselves and their dependants for benefit receipt on death; members may update those particulars (including at least three years before retirement); nominated persons receive benefits and others may not claim; the Board has power to resolve nomination disputes.

If a member dies while employed, the Administrator must apply that member's life-insurance entitlements under section 6(4) in accordance with section 28 for the member's dependants or, if there are no dependants, to the executor or administrator of the estate.

If a member has been missing and not heard of for seven years by those who would reasonably have heard of them, there is a rebuttable presumption the member is dead and section 30 applies; if it is confirmed the missing member is dead, section 30 applies.

If a member who was married at retirement and was receiving the benefit under section 28(2)(b) dies in retirement, a pension equal to the unused balance of his retirement savings account shall be paid to his dependants, commencing from the day after his death.

When a member transfers service within the public service, or between the Government and a county government, the same retirement savings account is to be maintained for that member.

Prohibits payments out of the Scheme to the Government without the prior written consent of the Retirement Benefits Authority.

The Administrator must perform the functions listed in Section 35(1)(a)–(g) (open accounts, credit monthly contributions, inform employers of discrepancies, provide customer service with access to balances/statements, pay retirement benefits, perform benefit calculations, and carry out Board-directed functions) and must ensure investment income is distributed to members’ retirement savings accounts except for Board-approved fees or amounts set aside to the reserve account.

The Manager must develop an investment strategy for the Fund for the approval of the Board.

The Custodian Section must receive the total contributions remitted by the employer under section 6 on behalf of the Board.

Requires that the Scheme and the Fund are at all times managed or held in accordance with this Act, Regulations or guidelines made under the Act and any directions issued by the Retirement Benefits Authority.

Government must provide an initial take-off grant from public moneys to meet expenditure incurred by the Board in exercising its powers or performing its functions under this Act.

The Board may invest surplus funds from the Fund's account in securities approved by the Cabinet Secretary for finance, or place funds not immediately needed on deposit with banks it chooses.

Section 41 defines a Reserve Account: it lists special contributions by the Government for improving member benefits; income the Board decides to set aside to stabilise returns (capped at ten per cent); and that sums treated as income of the reserve account are to be part of the Fund's general income.

The Fund's financial year is the twelve-month period ending on 30th June each year.

The Board must prepare annual estimates of the Fund's revenue and expenditure before each financial year; the Fund must not increase those approved estimates without the Cabinet Secretary's consent.

The Board must keep proper books and records of account for the Fund, and must have the Fund's accounts prepared and submitted annually for auditing and reporting by the Auditor-General.

Section requires an actuary to submit the valuation report to the Board.

Any person who fails to perform duties or obligations required by this Act commits an offence and, except for bodies corporate, may be fined up to five hundred thousand shillings or imprisoned for up to two years, or both.

If a body corporate fails to discharge any duty or obligation required by this Act, the body corporate and any director or officer who knew of the duty and did not exercise due diligence commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or both.

Employees and specified officers of the Fund who misappropriate Fund assets commit an offence and on conviction face a fine equal to three times the amount misappropriated or imprisonment for up to seven years or both.

The Cabinet Secretary may remove from office any trustee or employee of the Fund who is convicted of an offence under this Act, in addition to penalties.

Members entitled to benefits under this Act may not have any other recourse to a benefit payable out of the Consolidated Fund at commencement or on later joining of the Scheme; members of the Scheme shall be recognized by issuance of a letter acknowledging accrued benefits at date of joining.

Public service persons who were not on permanent and pensionable terms and who were contributing to the National Social Security Fund before the Act commenced shall, upon commencement, be admitted to permanent and pensionable establishment.

Members of the Scheme must have their contributions phased in over the first three years after commencement, at rates of 2%, 5% and 7.5% of a member’s pensionable emoluments in years one, two and three respectively.

Members of the Board and Fund officers, employees or agents (and persons acting on their directions) are not personally liable for acts done bona fide in executing the Fund's functions, powers or duties.

The Fund remains liable to pay compensation or damages to any person for injury caused by exercise of powers or by failure of works.

The Cabinet Secretary may, on the Board's recommendation, make regulations to carry out this Act.

Provisions of the Retirement Benefits Act (Cap. 197) and its regulations apply to the Fund.