PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Public Sector: Workplace Pensions (12 January 2022)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of over how many years the £17 billion cost to the public purse will be realised as a result of the remedy contained in the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill.

Asked by:
Pat McFadden (Labour)

The remedy proposed in the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill is designed to address the discrimination identified by the McCloud and Sargeant judgments. For the main unfunded public service pension schemes, in effect, remedy offers members in scope a choice between legacy or reformed scheme benefits for the remedy period, which runs from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. Members in scope of remedy are those with service on or before 31 March 2012 and on or after 1 April 2015.

The cost of remedy is the cost of additional pension benefits accrued due to remedy. Those benefits will typically be paid out across the retirement of eligible members. The estimated £17 billion cost of remedy will, therefore, be paid out over many decades as the pensions of those in scope come into payment.

Answered by:
Sir Simon Clarke (Conservative)
17 January 2022