Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the start date for GMP equalisation is 17 May 1990; and what comparative assessment she has made of the potential merits of that start date being (a) 17 May 1990 and (b) the 1986 date of the UK’s ratification of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The date relates to the court case that determines this matter. On 17 May 1990, the European Court of Justice ruled in the Barber Judgment https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A61988CJ0262 that private occupational pensions constituted ‘deferred pay’ and were therefore subject to Article 119 of the EEC Treaty (now in Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU). This means that these pensions are subject to the provisions of Article 157 on equal treatment between men and women. While the Barber Judgment was not specifically about Guaranteed Minimum Pensions, it meant that the impact of the different Guaranteed Minimum Pension rules for men and women have to be corrected.

The Court restricted the application of the Barber judgment so that it would not have effect prior to 17 May 1990, except in very limited circumstances concerning litigation existing at that time.