Minister for Policing and Crime (): 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 that these protections in the judicial and firefighters'
pension schemes gave rise to unlawful discrimination (the McCloud
and Sargeant cases).
Governing legislation - the Public Service Pensions and Judicial
Offices Act 2022 (the Act) - 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.
