On the go: Five trade unions will make their case against the government in the High Court, in the last week of January 2023, over an alleged “ongoing robbery” of public sector scheme members’ money.
First reported by Civil Service World, the Fire Brigades Union is leading a joint challenge that includes the Public and Commercial Services Union, Unite, GMB, the Prison Officers’ Association, and the Royal College of Nursing.
The Scheme Advisory Board recommended in 2019 that contribution rates be cut by 2 per cent in the event of a cost-cap floor breach. The cost cap is calculated as the employer contribution correction cost plus the transitional protection remedy cost, with a 2 per cent plus or minus corridor.
A floor breach would lead to an increase in take-home pay, but the imposition of McCloud costs meant that this would no longer happen.
The PCS has previously claimed that members are overpaying their pension contributions by 2 per cent. It has written to the Cabinet Office seeking negotiations. In November, it revealed that it had voted to strike with the highest level of backing for industrial action in the PCS’s history.
On December 1, the PCS said that “for more than three years, members have been owed a 2 per cent cut in pension contributions following a valuation of the scheme”.
“The government refuses to refund the money that our members have overpaid, meaning average losses of more than £1,000 each,” it continued.
The unions “have launched the joint legal action to challenge an attempt by the government to rip up rules that allow members to benefit from favourable valuations of the pension scheme”.
“The High Court has given permission for our judicial review application to go ahead, and the hearing is scheduled for the last week of January 2023.”
