GMPs must be equalised and arrears paid, High Court rules

135,000 scheme members affected

James Phillips
clock • 5 min read

Thousands of defined benefit (DB) schemes will be forced to amend their scheme rules and equalise guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs) between men and women, the High Court has ruled.

In a landmark decision today (26 October), the court ruled pensions provided to members who had contracted-out of their scheme must be recalculated to ensure payments reflect the equalisation of state pension ages in the 1990s. However, the court did not set a firm route for the equalisation, noting that a number of methods were available for schemes at large. For the Lloyds scheme in particular, due to the scheme's rules, the bank could require the trustees to consider annual increases by reference to both what members would have received if they were of the opposite sex and the accu...

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James Phillips
Author spotlight

James Phillips

Professional Pensions journalist from 2016-2022

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