Board members gave consideration to a report of the Director of Pensions that had been presented to the Pensions Committee on 22 June 2021 and informed members on the publication of a Written Ministerial Statement on McCloud and the remedy for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), along with recent developments on ongoing national issues and overriding legislation that would impact on the administration of the LGPS. The response to the consultation ‘Increasing the Normal Minimum Pension Age: Consultation on Implementation’ was attached as an appendix to the report.

Yvonne Murphy, Head of Pension Administration, highlighted the key points in the report and responded to Members questions. The Head of Pensions explained the background to the report, that the ‘Court of Appeals’ ruling in December 2018 had confirmed that the transitional protections provided for members of the Judges’ and Firefighters’ pension schemes when the public sector pension reforms were implemented in 2014 and 2015, were age discriminatory. This was because eligibility for these protections had been based on an age criterion. Similarly, age-restricted transitional protections had also provided across the other public service pension schemes including the LGPS and last year the government had announced that it would seek to remedy the position.  On  16 July 2020, the  Ministry  of Housing, Communities  and  Local Government (MHCLG) had  released  the  much-anticipated  consultation  on  the McCloud remedy for the LGPS in England and Wales and could be accessed from the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901173/Condoc_-_amendments_to_LGPS_underpin_-_FOR_PUBLICATION.pdf

The consultation had closed on 8 October 2020 and a response to the consultation was expected later this year. The recent written statement could be accessed from the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-05- 13/hcws26

The  report  informed  that  the  statement  confirmed  the  key  changes  that  the Government would make to the LGPS regulations to remove the unlawful age discrimination. The regulations would be retrospective to 1 April 2014and it was expected that MHCLG would issue a full response to the consultation later this year.

A Public Service Pensions Bill would introduce amendments to incorporate the McCloud judgment into public service pension schemes, and subsequently MHCLG would publish draft regulations later this year implementing the remedial McCloud provisions in readiness for the effective date of 1 April 2023.

In preparation for the enactment of the legislation, Fund Officers had undertaken a project to identify qualifying members who were in scope for underpin protection and were verifying the data held in relation to hour changes and breaks in service received for membership accrual post 1 April 2014.

In relation to the Consultation on Increasing the minimum pension age from 55 to 57 in April 2028, Members were informed that Merseyside Pension Fund had responded to the recent consultation on the national increase of the minimum pension age from age 55 to 57. The Chair informed that the consultation had been shared with both himself and the Chair of the Pensions Committee some significant time in advance and this had enabled genuine involvement in the response.

Resolved  –  That the operational implications emerging from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7