Singapore legislation
Section 16
Section 16
Pension schemes, provident fund, etc.
(1)
The Council may, with the approval of the Minister, make rules for the establishment of a scheme or schemes for the payment of pensions, gratuities, provident fund or other superannuation benefits to such employees or classes of employees of the Council as it may determine, or to their legal personal representatives or dependants, on the death or retirement of those employees from the service of the Council or on their otherwise leaving the service of the Council.
(2)
The following provisions apply to any scheme established under this section:
no assurance on the life of any contributor under any such scheme, and no moneys or other benefits payable under any such assurance, and no payment made under any such scheme to any person who has been employed by the Council, shall be assignable or transferable, or liable to be garnished, attached, sequestered or levied upon for or in respect of any debt or claim other than a debt due to the Council or to the Government;
no donation by the Council or contribution by its officers and employees made under any such scheme and no interest on such donation or contribution shall be assignable or transferable or liable to be garnished, attached, sequestered or levied upon for or in respect of any debt or claim other than a debt due to the Council or to the Government;
no such donation, contribution or interest shall be subject to the debts of the contributor, nor shall such donation, contribution or interest pass to the Official Assignee on the bankruptcy of the contributor, but, if the contributor is adjudicated a bankrupt or is declared insolvent by a court, such donation, contribution or interest shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be deemed to be subject to a trust in favour of the persons entitled thereto on the death of the contributor;
the bankruptcy of a contributor shall not affect the making of deductions from the salary of the contributor in accordance with any such scheme, but the deductions shall continue to be made despite the provisions of any written law, and the portion of salary so deducted shall not be deemed to form part of his or her after‑acquired property;
subject to the provisions of any such scheme, all moneys paid or payable under any such scheme on the death of a contributor shall be deemed to be subject to a trust in favour of the persons entitled thereto under the will or intestacy of the deceased contributor, or under a nomination in such form as may be prescribed in such scheme, and shall not be deemed to form part of his or her estate or be subject to the payment of his or her debts but shall be deemed to be property passing on his or her death for the purposes of the Estate Duty Act 1929;
any contributor may, by a memorandum under his or her hand, appoint a trustee or trustees of the moneys payable on his or her death out of any such scheme and may make provision for the appointment of a new trustee or new trustees of the moneys and for the investment of the moneys; and the memorandum shall be in the form prescribed in such scheme and shall be deposited with the Council;
if at the time of the death of any contributor or at any time afterwards, there is no trustee of the moneys or it is expedient to appoint a new trustee or new trustees, then and in any such case a trustee or trustees or a new trustee or new trustees may be appointed by the Supreme Court;
the receipt of a trustee or trustees duly appointed or, in default of any such appointment and of written notice thereof to the Council, the receipt of the legal personal representative of a deceased contributor shall be a discharge to the Council for any moneys payable on his or her death out of any such scheme.
(3)
The Council in making, under subsection (1), any pension, provident fund or other superannuation rules which affect any person transferred to the service of the Council under section 12 must, in such rules, provide for the payment to that person or his or her dependants of benefits not less in value than the amount of any pension, provident fund, gratuity or allowance for which the person or his or her dependants would have been eligible under the Pensions Act 1956, had he or she continued to be in the service of the Government and any such pension, provident fund or superannuation rules relating to length of service of the person must provide for the recognition as service under the Council of service by him or her under the Government.
(4)
Nothing in any rules made under subsection (1) adversely affects any condition that would have been applicable to persons transferred to the service of the Council from their service with the Government under section 12 as regards any pension, gratuity or allowance under the Pensions Act 1956.
(5)
Where any person in the service of the Council, whose case does not come within the scope and effect of any pension or other scheme established under this section, retires or dies in the service of the Council or is discharged from such service, the Council may grant to him or her or to such other person or persons wholly or partly dependent on him or her, as the Council may think fit, such allowance or gratuity as the Council may determine.
(6)
In every case of a person being transferred to the service of the Council under section 12, the Government shall be liable to pay to the Council such portion of any gratuity, pension or allowance payable to that person on his or her retirement as the same shall bear to the proportion which the aggregate amount of his or her pensionable emoluments during his or her service with the Government bears to the aggregate amount of his or her pensionable emoluments during his or her service under both the Government and the Council.