For anybody who was an active member of the civil service pension schemes on or before 31 March 2012 and continued to be a Civil Service Pension member on 1 April 2015 (or left service and then returned within 5 years) this may affect you.
What was the consultation about?
In 2015, the Government introduced reforms to public service pensions, meaning most civil servants were moved from classic, classic plus, premium and nuvos into the alpha pension scheme. Those within 10 years of their normal pension age remained in their old schemes with ‘transitional protection’.
In December 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled that the ‘transitional protection’ offered to some members of the judges’ and firefighters’ schemes gave rise to unlawful discrimination. This became known as the ‘McCloud Judgment’.
The pension scheme changes being developed to remove the discrimination found in the new 2015 pension schemes will be applied to all the main public service pensions, including the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Scheme members do not need to submit a claim in order to receive these changes, the government will do this automatically.
The pension scheme changes are very complex and will take time to develop. The government is aware that simply putting everyone back into the old schemes would not be in the best interest of some members who would be better off in the new 2015 schemes.
The public consultation published by the government in July has now closed. The government has announced the consultation response which can be found through the link below.