Thousands of former members of the defined benefit (DB)/Final Salary Pension Scheme may be in line for financial incentives following a landmark High Court ruling on historical gender inequality.
In 2018, the High Court declared the payment of various “guaranteed minimum pensions” to men and women illegal. As a result, trustees were instructed to equalize GMP benefits. The new ruling also covers pension transfers made over the past 30 years.
The judgment from Mr Justice Morgan, issued on 20 November, ruled that Lloyds Banking Group pension scheme trustees are responsible for equalising the GMPs for members who transferred out of one of its DB pension schemes.
The ruling is expected to have far-ranging consequences for the wider DB landscape, and will impact DB schemes that provided GMP, accrued between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997
Pensions Age
You can read the full story from Pensions Age here
We have been asked whether this affects pensions already being paid to Veterans.
Our view on this is that your military pension will not be reduced as a result of this ruling. If you transferred an external pension into the armed forces pension, and the transfer value from the old scheme was calculated without reference to the need to equalise Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) payments, then your old scheme may need to boost your transfer value retrospectively. This could result in a modest uplift to your veterans pension.
If you feel that you might have been affected by this issue (i.e. you transferred benefits into the Armed Forces Pension Scheme), then you should consider contacting the “old” employer and asking them to revisit your transfer calculation in the light of this recent court case.
