Public sector pension changes

Important changes to public sector pensions were brought in by the last Labour government, following recommendations by the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (the Hutton Review). They were implemented under the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. The main changes were:

• a move from final salary to career average salary pensions; and

• linking the pension age to the state retirement age (except for firefighters, police and armed forces, who have a retirement age of 60).

Firefighters’ union the FBU has successfully challenged transitional arrangements in relation to these changes in the employment tribunal on the basis of age, race and sex discrimination (see Chapter 7, page 257).

Information about the Local Government Pension Scheme is available from a dedicated website: www.lgpsmember.org.

Information about the impact of TUPE on pension arrangements can be found in Chapter 12.