The government is still working on the response to the consultation, which closed in October 2020. We’ll provide a link to the response as soon as it’s published, along with key points.

It’s important to note that the consultation only affects members who were in service on or before 31 March 2012 and have any service on or after 1 April 2015, including those with a qualifying break in service of not more than five years.

If they’re impacted by the discrimination, they’ll receive the opportunity to choose between their legacy final salary and the reformed career average pension scheme benefits for their active service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 (known as the ‘remedy period’). The consultation stated two options set out below:

• An Immediate Choice Exercise - most members would make this decision soon after the end of the remedy period
• A Deferred Choice Underpin – for most members this decision would be deferred until the point at which they take their pension benefits (e.g. retirement).

We anticipate that the government’s response will confirm which option has been agreed.

In the meantime, we’re busy looking at the above options and preparing our systems, processes and people to ensure our members are appropriately informed.

Once the government has published the consultation response, we’ll provide you with further information. Please keep up to date with news on our website.