British trade unions lose appeal over public sector pensions

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the British Medical Association (BMA) said Britain's finance ministry was effectively making members of newer pension schemes foot the bill for its own mistake

Two British trade unions on Wednesday lost an appeal over changes to public sector pensions they contended allows the government to unlawfully pass the £19-billion cost of pension reforms on to workers.

The Fire Brigades Union and the British Medical Association said Britain's finance ministry was effectively making members of newer pension schemes foot the bill for its own mistake.

A judge at London's High Court had dismissed the two unions' case in March 2023. The Court of Appeal dismissed the unions' appeal against that decision on Wednesday.

The unions' legal action followed a 2018 court ruling that the exclusion of younger staff from more beneficial, "legacy" pension schemes, as part of broader government reforms, amounted to unlawful age discrimination.

That ruling landed the government with an estimated £17-19 billion bill for future pension payments to nearly three million public sector workers.

In 2021, the government included that cost in the valuation of public sector pension schemes – without which, the unions said, scheme members' benefits would have risen or their contributions would have been decreased.

The Fire Brigades Union and the British Medical Association took their legal challenge to the Court of Appeal in February, arguing the government had failed to consult on the changes and that the effects were unlawfully discriminatory.

But Judge Elisabeth Laing said in a ruling that there was no "unambiguous promise of consultation" and that "the indirect discrimination against younger members of the new schemes was justified".

A spokesperson for Britain's finance ministry welcomed the ruling, which they said "will ensure that the costs of public service pension schemes continue to be allocated fairly between scheme members and taxpayers".