Home Affairs Uniformed Services Superannuation Act 2001

“award officer” means any person appointed as an award officer under section 23(1);

“Board” means the Board of Trustees appointed under section 19 for the administration and management of the INVEST Fund;

“civil defence officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Civil Defence Service but excludes any auxiliary member of the Civil Defence Force and any civil defence officer who is a national serviceman;

“Fund” means the INVEST Fund established under Part 3;

“intelligence officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in any scheme of service designated by the Minister;

“INVEST Plan” means the INVEST Plan established by regulations made under Part 2;

“junior police officer” means a police officer who is below the rank of inspector;

“member” means a member of the INVEST Plan;

“narcotics officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Narcotics Service;

“national serviceman” has the meaning given by the Enlistment Act 1970;

“police officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Police Service but excludes any auxiliary police officer, any member of the Special Constabulary constituted under Part 8 of the Police Force Act 2004 and any police officer who is a national serviceman;

“prison officer” means any public officer appointed to the permanent establishment in the Prisons Service;

“public authority” means a body established or constituted by or under a public Act to perform or discharge a public function;

“Scheme” means the Occupational Superannuation Scheme established under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1960 for the benefit of officers in the Corrupt Practices Investigation Schemes of Service;

“senior police officer” means any police officer other than a junior police officer;

“service” means regular service (whether part-time or full-time) as a uniformed service officer;

“trustee” means a member of the Board appointed under section 19;

“uniformed service officer” means any civil defence officer, intelligence officer, narcotics officer, police officer or prison officer.

The Minister must by regulations establish an occupational superannuation scheme to be known as the INVEST Plan for the benefit of —

The regulations made under subsection (1) must provide for the payment of —

The regulations made under subsection (1) may provide —

Subject to subsection (3), in making regulations under section 3(1), the Minister must also provide —

Subject to subsection (3), the regulations made under section 3(1) in relation to the officers referred to in subsection (1) must provide —

Any option exercised by any officer before the commencement of the regulations to join or not to join the INVEST Plan is deemed to be exercised in accordance with the regulations made under this section.

Nothing in this Act limits the right of the relevant appointing authority to dismiss any member from the uniformed services without compensation.

Subject to Article 113 of the Constitution, where it is established to the satisfaction of the relevant authority that a member has been guilty of negligence, irregularity or misconduct, it is lawful for the relevant authority to reduce or altogether withhold the pension, gratuity, allowance or other benefit for which the member would but for this section have become eligible under the INVEST Plan.

In subsection (1), “relevant appointing authority” means —

In subsection (2), “relevant authority” means —

No contribution by the Government made under the INVEST Plan and no interest thereon shall be subject to the debts of any member, nor shall such contributions and interest pass to the Official Assignee on the bankruptcy of the member, and if the member is adjudicated a bankrupt or is declared insolvent by a court of law, the contributions and interest must be deemed excluded from the property of the bankrupt for the purposes of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018.

If, at the date of his or her retirement or resignation from the uniformed services, any member has been adjudged a bankrupt by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, and he or she has not obtained a discharge from the adjudication or declaration, it is lawful for an award officer to refuse to grant any pension, gratuity or other allowance which would, if not for this subsection, be granted.

If any person to whom a pension or other allowance has been granted under this Act is adjudicated a bankrupt by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, the Minister may direct that the pension or allowance must forthwith cease, and the pension or allowance then ceases accordingly.

In any case where, by reason of bankruptcy of the former member, a pension, gratuity or allowance is not granted or where a pension or allowance ceases by virtue of a direction under subsection (3), the Minister may, from time to time, during the remainder of the member’s or former member’s life, or during such shorter period or periods, either continuous or discontinuous, as the Minister thinks fit, cause all or any part of the moneys to which the person would have been entitled by way of pension, gratuity or allowance, had the person not become a bankrupt, to be paid to, or applied for the maintenance and personal support or benefit of, all or any (to the exclusion of the others) of the following persons in such proportions and manner as the Minister thinks proper:

When a person to whom a pension or allowance has not been granted or whose pension or allowance has ceased under this section obtains a full and proper discharge from his or her bankruptcy, his or her pension or allowance must be restored to him or her with effect from the date of the discharge.

For the purposes of subsection (4), moneys applied for the discharge of the debts of the member or former member (as the case may be) are regarded as applied for his or her benefit.

If any person to whom a pension or other allowance has been granted under this Act is sentenced to death or penal servitude or any term of imprisonment by any court of competent jurisdiction, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, for any crime or offence, the Minister may direct that the pension or allowance must forthwith cease, and the pension or allowance then ceases accordingly.

Despite subsection (1), any pension or allowance that has ceased by virtue of a direction under subsection (1) must be restored with retrospective effect in the case of a person who, after conviction, at any time receives a free pardon.

Where a pension or allowance ceases by virtue of a direction under subsection (1), the Minister may cause all or any part of moneys to which the person would have been entitled by way of pension or allowance to be paid to or applied for the benefit of the person’s wife, child or children, or after the expiration of the person’s sentence, also for the benefit of himself or herself, in the same manner precisely and subject to the same qualifications and restrictions as in the case of bankruptcy provided in section 8.

There is established a fund called the INVEST Fund into which must be paid all the following moneys:

There must also be paid into the Fund such sum from the Pension Fund established by the Pension Fund Act 1995 as the Minister for Finance may determine as the value of that part of the Pension Fund relating to all those officers in the uniformed services referred to in section 4(1)(a) who exercise an option in favour of joining the INVEST Plan in accordance with the regulations.

The moneys referred to in subsections (1)(a) and (b) and (2) must be paid into the INVEST Fund as capital money, and must not be used to make payment of any dividend under the INVEST Plan.

The Fund is deemed to be a Government fund for the purposes of any other written law.

The Fund must be held, managed and administered separately from other Government funds.

Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act or regulations made under section 26, the Financial Procedure Act 1966 applies to the Fund.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(c), the net income from investments is the amount ascertained by adding to, or deducting from, the income received from investments of moneys in the Fund, any profit derived or loss sustained (as the case may be) from the realisation of the investments.

Subject to subsection (2) and section 4F(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1960, the moneys in the Fund may only be withdrawn and applied to meet any one or more of the following purposes:

The Fund comprising —

The Fund is to be managed and administered by the Board appointed under section 19 subject to the direction and control of the Minister.

The Board must furnish to the Minister such information relating to the general management and administration of the Fund as the Minister may require.

Despite section 7(3) of the Financial Procedure Act 1966, moneys standing to the credit of the Fund which are, in the opinion of the Board, moneys that are not for the time being required for the purpose of making payments out of the Fund under this Act and the INVEST Plan or the Scheme may, so far as is practicable, be invested by the Board in such stocks, funds, securities and investments as the Board thinks fit (but not any stock, bond or security issued by the Government) and in any manner, but the Board must manage the Fund so that moneys that are from time to time required to pay benefits that are payable out of the Fund are available for that purpose.

The Board may invest moneys standing to the credit of the Fund that are available for investment through an investment manager or managers who undertake to invest, and manage the investment of those moneys on behalf of the Board.

If any investment manager is engaged by the Board under subsection (2), the Board must ensure that the investment manager —

In this section —

“derivatives contract” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Securities and Futures Act 2001;

“effective management”, for an investment portfolio, includes —

“investments” means —

Subject to subsection (2), where the moneys in the Fund are insufficient to pay any pension, gratuity, allowance, compensation or other like benefit at the time when such payment becomes due under the INVEST Plan or the Scheme, the deficiency is charged on and payable out of the Consolidated Fund.

Subsection (1) applies only to any pension, gratuity, allowance, compensation or other like benefit —

Moneys must not be withdrawn from the Fund unless they are charged upon the Fund or are authorised or directed to be withdrawn or transferred under this Act.

Payment must not be made out of the Fund unless the payment is authorised by the Minister.

A Board of Trustees is established, consisting of not less than 5 and not more than 15 persons, all of whom must be appointed by the Minister.

The trustees must be appointed for such period, not exceeding 3 years, as the Minister may specify in the instrument of appointment, and are eligible for re‑appointment.

A trustee holds office on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Minister.

If at any time it appears to the Minister that removal from office of any of the trustees is necessary in the interests of the effective and economical performance of the functions of the Board under this Act, the Minister may remove from office so many of those trustees as he or she considers necessary in those interests.

All trustees are deemed to be public servants for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871.

All trustees are deemed to be public officers for the purposes of the Financial Procedure Act 1966 and section 20 of that Act applies to such persons even though they are not or were not in the employment of the Government.

The functions of the Board are to manage and invest the Fund in accordance with the provisions of this Act including, for example, the following functions:

The Board has power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for, or in connection with, the performance of its functions and, in particular, may —

In exercising its functions and powers, the Board has regard to —

The trustees are not, by reason only of their having made such appointment or engagement under subsection (2)(a) or (b), responsible for any default of the agent, attorney, consultant or investment manager if appointed or engaged in good faith.

The Board may delegate the performance or exercise of any of its functions or powers, either generally or specially, subject to the conditions or restrictions it thinks fit, to any of the following persons:

A delegation by the Board under subsection (1) of the performance or exercise of any of its functions or powers to a person (called in this Act a delegate) must be made by —

A delegation by the Board under subsection (1) of the performance or exercise of any of its functions or powers to a delegate mentioned in subsection (1)(d) may authorise that delegate to subdelegate the performance or exercise of the function or power to an appropriately qualified employee or contractor of that delegate (called in this Act a subdelegate).

A subdelegation by a delegate under an authorisation given to the delegate under subsection (3) must be subject to the same conditions or restrictions imposed on the delegate under subsection (1) (called in this section the original conditions or restrictions), except that the delegate may —

Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply to any function or power that is declared by this Act or any other written law to be non‑delegable.

A subdelegate to whom a function or power of the Board is subdelegated under an authorisation given to a delegate under subsection (3) is not authorised to further delegate that function or power to anyone else.

A delegation or subdelegation in accordance with this section is not affected by any change in the membership of the Board.

A delegate (or subdelegate) who purports to perform a function or exercise a power of the Board under delegation (or subdelegation) —

Every delegate and subdelegate of the Board is, when performing any function or exercising any power of the Board, taken to be —

The Minister —

The INVEST Plan is to be administered by award officers appointed under subsection (1) subject to the direction and control of the Minister and, except as otherwise provided by any regulations made under Part 2 in relation to the INVEST Plan, no award of benefits under the INVEST Plan is subject to appeal to any court.

The Minister, or any person appointed by him or her for this purpose, may, on appeal, review any award of benefits by any award officer, and for this purpose may vary any award made by an award officer, whether by increasing or decreasing the award, and the decision of the Minister or such person so appointed is final and conclusive and is not subject to appeal to any court.

Every appeal against any award of benefits under the INVEST Plan must be brought within 12 months of the date the appellant is notified of the decision of an award officer, or such longer period as the Minister or person appointed under subsection (3) may allow in any particular case.

The Board must cause to be kept proper accounts and records of all transactions and affairs relating to the Fund and must ensure that payments out of the Fund are correctly made and properly authorised and that adequate control is maintained over the assets and receipts of the Fund.

The Minister must, as soon as practicable after the close of each financial year, cause to be prepared and submitted financial statements in respect of that year to the auditor referred to in subsection (3).

The accounts and annual financial statements of the Fund must be audited by the Auditor‑General or such other auditor as may be appointed annually by the Minister in consultation with the Auditor‑General.

A person is not qualified for appointment as an auditor under subsection (3) unless the person is a public accountant within the meaning of the Companies Act 1967.

The remuneration of the auditor must be paid out of the Fund.

As soon as the financial statements have been audited, the auditor must send to the Minister a copy of the audited financial statements together with a copy of any report made by the auditor.

Where the Auditor-General is not the auditor of the Fund, a copy of the audited financial statements and any report made by the auditor must be forwarded to the Auditor‑General when they are submitted to the Minister.

The Minister must as soon as practicable cause a copy of the audited financial statements and of the auditor’s report to be presented to Parliament.

The financial year of the Fund begins on 1 April of each year and ends on 31 March of the succeeding year.

For successive periods of such duration, not exceeding 5 years, as the Minister may determine in each case, an examination of the Fund must be made by a person appointed by the Minister with a view to determining the state of the Fund having regard to its prospective liabilities and the probable annual provisions required by the Fund to meet those liabilities.

Despite subsection (1), where an amendment is made to the INVEST Plan, and the amendment affects the cost of benefits payable under the INVEST Plan or creates an initial unfunded liability, the Minister may, for the purposes of section 12(1)(a), appoint a person to make an examination and report on the state of the Fund.

Despite subsection (1), where an amendment is made to the Scheme, and the amendment affects the cost of benefits payable under the Scheme or creates an initial unfunded liability, the Minister charged with the responsibility for the Scheme may, for the purposes of section 12(1)(a), appoint a person to make an examination and report on the state of the Fund.

The person appointed under subsection (1), (2) or (3) must, at the end of the person’s examination, report to the Minister for Finance and the Minister referred to in subsection (2) or (3) (as the case may be) the state of the Fund having regard to its prospective liabilities and the probable annual provisions required by the Fund to meet those liabilities.

The Minister referred to in subsection (2) or (3) (as the case may be) must cause a copy of every such report to be presented to Parliament forthwith after receipt of the report.