Government support for pensioners
A Westminster Hall debate on government support for pensioners is scheduled for Wednesday 12 February 2025 at 2:30pm. The debate will be led by Blake Stephenson MP.

Looks at why and how pension schemes are required to equalise Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs)
Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) equalisation (279 KB , PDF)
People who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, are covered by the old State Pension. The old State Pension is composed of two tiers:
When the additional State Pension was introduced in 1978 there was an option to “contract-out”, where employees and their employer would pay less National Insurance and leave the additional State Pension. Between 1978 and 1997, contracted-out schemes had to provide an individually calculated Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP).
Contracting-out ended when the new single-tier State Pension replaced the basic and additional State Pensions in April 2016.
The Pension Schemes Act 1993 required GMPs to be calculated on a different basis for men and women to reflect differences in the state pension age at the time. This led to inequalities in the rate at which benefits build up in the scheme and the age at which they can be drawn.
Following decisions of the European Court of Justice, since reflected in UK law, the position of successive governments has been that pension schemes “are under an obligation to equalise overall scheme benefits accruing from 17 May 1990 including, in respect of accruals from 17 May 1990 to 5 April 1997, any inequality resulting from the GMP rules, where an opposite sex comparator existed in the scheme.”
Debate about how the legal requirements applied to schemes regarding GMP equalisation continued until October 2018, when the High Court held in Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd v Lloyds Bank PLC and others that schemes were “under a duty to amend the Schemes in order to equalise benefits for men and women so as to alter the result which is at present produced in relation to GMPs.”
The legislation did not specify the approach schemes should take to GMP equalisation. Following consultation, the Government issued guidance in April 2019 on one approach, which involved:
The Government had legislated to enable schemes to convert GMPs into scheme benefits in the Pensions Act 2007. However, in its 2019 guidance, the Department for Work and Pensions noted that the provisions had been rarely used in practice.
Following the Lloyds Bank judgement, the Government said it would make changes to the existing GMP conversion legislation to address pensions industry concerns that the existing legislation was unclear in some areas.
The Pension Schemes (Conversion of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) Act 2022 amended existing legislation to:
Following the Act, HMRC issued further guidance for schemes on GMP equalisation in April 2022, particularly in relation to tax implications of different methods that schemes use for GMP equalisation.
Further guidance was issued in June 2022 by HMRC about how to deal with pension scheme arrears and interest when equalising for GMP.
Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) equalisation (279 KB , PDF)
A Westminster Hall debate on government support for pensioners is scheduled for Wednesday 12 February 2025 at 2:30pm. The debate will be led by Blake Stephenson MP.
Covers the arrangements made for mineworkers' pensions (MPS) and British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS) following privatisation of British Coal in 1994.
Between 1978 and 1997, contracted-out defined benefit pension schemes were required to provide a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP). This briefing looks at the arrangements for increasing GMPs.