26.1 Project Co shall procure that each Pensionable Authority Employee shall be offered membership of a pension scheme for future service operated by Project Co (or the relevant Service Provider), on the Relevant Service Transfer Date, which has been certified by the Government Actuary's Department as broadly comparable to the NHS Pension Scheme assessed following the principles set out in the Statement of Practice issued by the Government Actuary's Department as current at the time.
26.2 Project Co shall ensure that a certificate from the Government Actuary's Department referred to in Clause 26.1 for each relevant pension scheme shall be delivered to the Authority on or before signature of this Agreement and shall provide confirmation that the certificate remains in force three months before each Relevant Service Transfer Date in respect of each Pensionable Authority Employee who is to be offered membership of the pension scheme to which the certificate relates.
26.3 The Authority shall provide Project Co with such information as it (or its Service Providers) may reasonably require in relation to the NHS Pension Scheme to enable Project Co (or its Service Providers) to submit a proposal to the Government Actuary's Department to assess the comparability of Project Co's (or the relevant Service Provider's) pension scheme. The Authority may (at its option) provide such information directly to the Government Actuary's Department. Project Co shall (and it shall procure that its Service Providers shall) provide such documentation as is required to enable the Government Actuary's Department to consider the question of comparability including, but not necessarily limited to, the Trust Deed and Rules of any scheme operated by Project Co and its Service Providers, the latest actuarial valuation report, the latest trustees' report and accounts together with a statement giving details of the increases in pensions in payment and deferred pensions in each of the last ten years and details of any area where the trustees will operate discretion to improve benefits.
26.4 All costs incurred in obtaining a certificate of broad comparability from the Government Actuary's Department shall be borne by Project Co.
26.5 Where the employment of any Pensionable Authority Employee is transferred on a second and/or subsequent occasion on a change of Service Provider during the subsistence of this Agreement, Project Co shall procure each Pensionable Authority Employee who is a member of, or eligible for membership of, the outgoing Service Provider's pension scheme shall be offered membership of a pension scheme operated by the incoming Service Provider which, as a minimum:
26.5.1 for future service offers the benefits which enabled any preceding Service Provider's pension schemes of which that Pensionable Authority Employee was a member (or was eligible to be a member) to be certified as being broadly comparable in accordance with the provisions of Clauses 26.1 to 26.3 inclusive; and
26.5.2 in respect of accrued benefits meets the requirements for bulk transfer agreements contained in Clause 26.6.
26.6 Project Co shall procure that each relevant pension scheme of which any Pensionable Authority Employee becomes a member, whether on initial transfer of their employment from the Authority to the Service Provider or on a second or subsequent transfer, shall, on the initial transfer, be able to accept and (subject to one or more Pensionable Authority Employees making the necessary election and in consideration of the payment of Transfer Values but otherwise without condition), shall accept bulk transfers from the NHS Pension Scheme, or, on a second or subsequent transfer, from any relevant pension scheme of a Service Provider of which that Pensionable Authority Employee has become a member, in respect of benefits which that Pensionable Authority Employee has accrued in the NHS Pension Scheme or subsequent relevant pension scheme. The assumptions terms which the parties have agreed shall apply with respect to the calculation of Transfer Values from the NHS Pension Scheme (the "Initial Bulk Transfer Terms") are set out in Section 2 (Bulk Transfer Assumptions) of Schedule Part 24 (Employment and Pensions). In respect of second and subsequent transfers, the terms which shall apply with respect to the calculation of Transfer Values shall be such as shall provide Transfer Values which are not less than the Transfer Values which would result from applying the Initial Bulk Transfer Terms.
26.7 The Authority shall have the right, but not the obligation, on any second or subsequent transfer, to request the Government Actuary's Department to certify, in respect of any relevant pension scheme, that the requirements of Clauses 26.5 and 26.6 have been met. Project Co shall (and it shall procure that its Service Providers shall) provide all such documentation as is required to enable the Government Actuary's Department to make the necessary assessment.
26.8 Notwithstanding the provisions of Clause 25.4 Project Co shall procure that there shall be provided for each Pensionable Authority Employee, as far as practicable, on termination of employment on or after the Relevant Service Transfer Date, and on or before the Termination Date, rights which replicate those to which the employee would have been entitled under the NHS Superannuation Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 1995 and the NHS (Compensation for Premature Retirement) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 as amended from time to time had he remained in Authority employment or if any such Employee cannot be given in any respect such equivalent rights he shall be provided with compensation which is broadly comparable or of equivalent value to the lost entitlement.
26.9 Project Co shall procure that any persons who may be employed by Project Co or by a Service Provider at any time during the subsistence of this Agreement who are not Pensionable Authority Employees but who are nevertheless wholly or substantially engaged in the provision of any of the Services shall be offered membership of the broadly comparable pension scheme operated by Project Co (or the relevant Service Provider) pursuant to Clause 26.1 or Clause 26.5, as applicable, on the same basis as the relevant Pensionable Authority Employees.]