Civil Service Pension Scheme: 2015 Remedy and civil service member contributions
Read the full outcome
Detail of outcome
When Royal Assent for the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices (PSPJO) Bill occurs, the Cabinet Office will continue with the laying of the proposed Statutory Instrument, having given careful consideration to the responses received to the consultation.
This means that all remaining active members (including partially retired members in active service) will be moved to the reformed scheme for civil servants, ‘alpha’, from 1 April 2022. The legacy scheme (i the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, ‘PCSPS’) will be closed to future service accrual from 31 March 2022.
A further consultation and Statutory Instrument (SI) covering the implementation of the remedy is expected to be launched later on in 2022. Cabinet Office will use the feedback received from the planned consultation to help shape that phase of the remedy.
As the 2016 valuation has now been completed and no breach occurred, the member contributions will be set for 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 using the same percentages and salary bands as the current scheme year.
Detail of feedback received
1,301 responses were received whilst the consultation was open. This was made up of 1,295 individual scheme members, five unions, and one public sector employer. A list of respondents by organisation is included within the consultation response document.
Original consultation
Consultation description
There are two main areas of focus: the 2015 Remedy (also known as McCloud) and member contributions.
Prospective Changes for 2015 Remedy:
In 2015 all public sector pension schemes were reformed, with new career average schemes introduced. These reforms also saw the introduction of transitional protection which meant those members within 10 years of the normal pension age could remain in the legacy schemes for a period of time. The Court of Appeal in 2018 identified transitional protection as discriminatory based on age. This called for the 2015 Remedy to remove this discrimination and resulted in the publication of the HM Treasury-led Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill earlier this year. To ensure the legislation dictated in the Bill is followed, scheme-level legislation is required to move all remaining active members of the legacy schemes into the reformed scheme (alpha) from 1 April 2022. This will mean the discrimination is removed as all members will be in the same position. There will be additional scheme-level legislation next year which deals with the remainder of the 2015 Remedy work.
Member Contributions 2022/23:
The Civil Service (and Others) Pension Scheme (CSOPS) - also known as Alpha - is set out in the Public Service (Civil Servants and Others) Pension Regulations 2014. The Scheme makes provisions for contributions payable by scheme members up to 31 March 2022. It is silent on member contribution rates from 1 April 2022, and provisions need to be made for this. The proposed legislation has the effect of extending the current contribution rates for a one year period from 1 April 2022 to 31st March 2023.
Documents
Updates to this page
Published 22 November 2021Last updated 4 March 2022 + show all updates
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Government response published.
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First published.