In 2014 and 2015, the previous Government reformed public service pension schemes. When the reforms were introduced, they provided “transitional protections”, which allowed members who were closer to retirement age to remain in the previous “legacy” schemes rather than move to the “reformed” schemes. In December 2018, the Court of Appeal found, in the McCloud and Sargeant cases, that these protections in the judicial and firefighters’ pension schemes gave rise to unlawful discrimination.
Governing legislation—the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022—was enacted to remedy the discrimination identified by the courts. A core element of the remedy is providing affected members with a choice of pension benefits, legacy or reformed, for the period the discrimination had effect from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. It also provides affected members with an opportunity to unwind certain pension scheme decisions that they would have made differently but for the discrimination.
However, for police officers who opted out of their pension scheme due to the discrimination there is an unintended consequence of the legislative provisions of the Act, as it specifies the relevant legacy scheme for members who have suffered discrimination. A cohort of these members currently do not have access to the legacy scheme they had last accrued benefits in, as there is a barrier within the Act to rejoining the 1987 police pension scheme, so they have not yet been provided with a full remedy.
This Government will use the additional provisions for special cases set out in the Act to disapply sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Act for any eligible member who had opted out due to the discrimination and now, under the terms of section 5 of the Act and regulation 6 of the Police Pensions (Remediable Service) Regulations 2023, makes an election to buy back all the opted-out service during the remedy period. This will be applied retrospectively so that opted out service within the remedy period—1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022—can become remediable service in the correct legacy scheme.
Police pension scheme managers should apply this, effective immediately, and in anticipation of the amending legislation. We will correct the position through a statutory instrument as soon as parliamentary time allows.
[HCWS1475]