There is an ongoing process to implement the remedy to the unlawful age discrimination identified by McCloud in the Civil Service, Firefighter, NHS and Teachers pension schemes.
Until the remedy has been implemented there will be no change to members’ pensions and the existing transitional protections will continue to apply. Members that retire before the remedy has been implemented will retrospectively benefit from the remedy with a post election choice.
A remedy that simply reverted all members to their legacy scheme would not have been appropriate for the Civil Service Pension Scheme. This because it would not address the detriment for all members in the scheme, and in some cases could even result in detriment. This is because the Alpha scheme has a higher value accrual rate as well as a higher pension age. As a result, when members retire or intend to retire will be a factor to the detriment.
In February 2021 the Government has published a response to its public consultation on the changes to the transition arrangements for the reformed schemes. This response outlines that members will be able to make an election at retirement for their service during the remedy period. This set out the broad principles to remedy the discrimination. Each scheme will then individually consult on scheme amendments for the prospective and retrospective remedies.
The Cabinet Office consulted on the scheme amendments for the prospective remedy for the Civil Service pension arrangements from December 2021 to January 2022, with the regulations legislated for in March 2022. We are expecting the Cabinet Office to consult on the scheme amendments for the retrospective remedy in 2022.
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