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) implemented under the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. The main changes were a move from final salary to career average salary pensions and the linking of the pension age to the state retirement age (except for firefighters, police and armed forces, who have a retirement age of 60). Transitional arrangements were put in place to insulate those closest to retirement from the changes. These arrangements have been successfully challenged in the courts by two groups of workers, judges and firefighters, on the basis of age, race and sex discrimination (see Chapter 7, pages 249-251).