The Judicial reform Stage 2 which was introduced in April 2015 and initially proposed by the coalition government presents an unwelcomed new pension scheme for the judiciary.

The new judiciary scheme will provide a career average pension rather than the previous final salary plan. Judges who were over 55 years on April 1 2012 will continue to benefit from the original final salary scheme and members who were 55 years or younger on April 1 2012 will join the new scheme.

Stage 1 of the reform, which was launched in 2012 saw judges pay in to the judiciary pension scheme for the first time raising GBP 7 million.

As reported by The Times, two hundred judges are to start legal action against what they say are 'discriminatory' changes to the judiciary pension scheme they feel entitled to for their contribution and position as judge in the public sector.

Part-time judges and those affected by the age cap are now seeking legal action in an unprecedented case to block reforms in the judicial pension scheme.

The General Council of the Bar of England and Wales, the Bar Council, also questions whether stage 2 of the reform 'would be in breach on the constitution as a form of reduction on salary' in the Bar Councils response to the New Judicial Pension Scheme consultation paper.

Andy Slaughter MP states that 'many practitioners see a substantial drop in salary when they take up judicial appointments...One of the things that is an inducement to those leaving the professions and giving up those very high salaries is the security of knowing that they will earn a pension.'

During a committee meeting with Sandra Osbourne, Andrew Selous MP argued that the government should not apply a more generous scheme for high-paid public servants than is applied to the rest of the public sector.

Selous defended the 2015 reform during the meeting with the newly appointed pensions minister saying 'we are bringing the scheme for judges broadly in line with that of other public sector workers...the majority of pensions in the public sector are significantly more generous than other schemes and provide a degree of certainty that is not available to the vast majority of our constituents who work in the private sector'.

Andy Slaughter Labour MP agreed that the reform falls in line with proposals applied to other parts of the public sector and also agreed the public would think it unfair if those at the top salaries were treated differently.

However he remains concerned about cost vs benefit and the effect the new pension scheme will have on the public purse. Part-time judges cost the government an additional GBP 2 billion on top of the existing GBP 3.4 billion public liability already in place to support the judicial pension scheme when they sought legal action after being left them out of plans regarding the pension reform.

The case is likely to be the first major legal encounter for the new Conservative Government.

First published 05.06.2015

ceri.pugh@wilmingtonplc.com