On the go: A private members’ bill has been tabled in the House of Commons that aims to amend and clarify existing rules around guaranteed minimum pension conversion.
The bill was tabled by Margaret Ferrier, MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West. Ferrier sat as a Scottish National party MP but was suspended in October last year over repeated breaches of Covid-19 rules. She now sits as an Independent.
Ferrier said the aim of her bill – one of the 20 private members’ bills selected by a ballot of MPs – was to clarify and streamline the process of GMP conversion, a popular method among trustees and sponsors to achieve GMP equalisation.
She said her bill would help “to reassure occupational pension schemes that they are able to use the methodology published in [Department for Work and Pensions] guidance to level the effective differences between pension amounts paid out to men and women”.
She added: “Historical inequalities of treatment between men and women in the pensions system have long resulted in uneven amounts being paid out as GMPs in occupational pension schemes to men and women. This bill will begin to rectify these persisting issues.”
Alasdair Mayes, partner and head of GMP equalisation at LCP, welcomed the bill. “This is great news. It has been known for several years that the GMP conversion legislation has some rough edges,” he said.
“Survey after survey shows that GMP conversion, in some shape or form, is preferred by many as a means to equalise benefits for GMPs over the administratively complex ‘dual record’ approaches.
“Hopefully, this bill will iron out the rough edges in the conversion legislation.”
