‘Hugely complex’ pension remedy

By Robin Stride

Doctors forced to move to the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme will be compensated under new proposals which will remove the age discrimination judged to have arisen by the Court of Appeal. 

When the 2015 pension scheme was introduced, older members – within ten years of retiring – were allowed to continue with their final salary schemes in the 1995 or 2008 sections. 

But, in 2018, the Court of Appeal found this to be discriminatory against younger members in a case brought by judges and firefighters. 

The Government is now seeking to redress this discrimination across all public sector pension schemes in a move expected to cost £17bn. 

Under the new proposals, eligible pension members will be given a choice about which set of pension scheme benefits they would prefer for the ‘remedy period’ which is between 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. They may choose their previous 1995-2008 scheme benefits or their 2015 scheme benefits.

The Government has now launched a consultation to ask members whether they would prefer to make this choice at the end of the remedy period or when they take their benefits on retirement.