We want to remind that you have until the 11 October 2020 to respond to the government’s consultation (This link opens in a new window) on the proposals to address the discrimination caused by transitional protection arrangements, when the career average scheme was introduced in 2015. More details of the background to the consultation can be found in our previous news story. We encourage you to respond to the government’s consultation so that they have the chance to consider your views and feedback on their proposals.

The government’s proposals to address the discrimination apply to all pension scheme members who were in service on or before 31 March 2012 and on or after 1 April 2015, including those with a qualifying break in service of not more than 5 years. To check to see if you’re affected it’s worth reading the leaflet (This link opens in a new window) the government has published.

The proposals provide affected members with the option to choose between their legacy (final salary) and reformed (career average) pension scheme benefits for service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 (known as the ‘remedy period’).

The government has suggested two options for achieving this in the consultation. The options are:

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). In the meantime, all members would be deemed to have been in their legacy (final salary) schemes for the whole of the remedy period.

There are pros and cons to both of these options which are set out in more detail in the consultation document.

Any affected members who have retired, or will retire before 2022, will be given a choice between legacy and reformed scheme benefits for service between 2015 and their retirement date. Where possible the choice will be offered at retirement. Where this is not possible the choice will be offered as soon as practicable after legislative changes are implemented. Any change to benefits will be backdated.

We won’t be able to provide any more specific information on our Scheme until after the consultation exercise and the government has announced its response. We suggest you keep checking our website and social media platforms for updated information.