Draft Occupational Pension Schemes and Pension Protection Fund (Equality) (Amendment) Regulations

Friday 20th January 2012 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

The Government have today begun consultation on draft regulations to ensure domestic legislation reflects the effect of current European case law regarding the obligation on pension schemes to treat men and women equally.

The draft regulations will amend domestic legislation to reflect the specific point that, where an inequality in pension scheme rules results from the legislation governing the guaranteed minimum pension, the scheme is required to equalise, even where no opposite sex comparator exists.

The Government have been advised by a number of organisations that some schemes with guaranteed minimum pension liabilities have been finding equalisation action difficult. As we wish to offer as much help as is practical, we have also published today, for consultation, one possible method of equalisation.

This suggested method of equalisation will not have any force of law and there will be no obligation on schemes to use it. However, the Government hope that experts in the pensions industry will engage constructively with it and, as a result, schemes will know that the revised version will have been published after a consideration of a large range of views.

A copy of this consultation document will be placed in the House Library.