Public Sector unions in the United Kingdom (UK) are taking legal action against the Government over its failure to deliver expected improvements to pensions.
The unions, representing firefighters, police officers, teachers and other Public Servants, have filed for a judicial review against the Treasury in the Administrative Court, a division of the High Court.
They say the UK Government is in breach of a rule for Public Service pension schemes which came into force in April 2015, when retirement benefits for Government workers were made less generous.
The rule requires that any benefit from a reduction in the UK Government’s cost of financing the scheme below a pre-determined level is passed on to members.
In September 2018, the UK Government said that initial results from a 2016 scheme valuation indicated that members should get “improved pension benefits for employment over the period April 2019 to March 2023”.
However, in 2019 the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss announced that implementing the improvements would be “paused” while the Government fought a separate legal action that its 2015 pension reforms had discriminated against younger workers.
The UK Government lost the action last year, but scheme members have yet to see the expected improvements to their pensions from the 2016 valuation.
General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, Matt Wrack (pictured) said Ministers knew full well that they were in breach of the regulations.
“Refusing to accept this and pausing the process amounts to a dirty trick,” Mr Wrack said.
A UK Government spokesperson said it would provide an update “later this year” on the cost control mechanism that assesses the value of public sector pensions.
London, 26 April, 2020
