7th January 2022 Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) Judicial Review Dismissed December 15th 2021

This Judicial Review claim argued that the process around the consultation conducted by HM Treasury in summer 2020 in response to the McCloud/Sargeant cases was legally flawed. The element of the consultation of paramount concern to the PSA was the closure of legacy public service pension schemes on 31st March 2022. The judge found some of the grounds arguable, and that there had been legal errors in the decision-making process following the consultation. However, the judge found that the errors were not material and did not ultimately affect the outcome or content of the consultation response. The judge also stated that “the courts must not do anything directly or indirectly that would delay the passage of a Bill through Parliament, or which would directly or indirectly tell Parliament what the form or content of a Bill should be”. This is a reference to the fact that the Parliamentary process is underway in relation to the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill. The full judgment can be found here

At present, the outcome of this Judicial Review has no impact on the Local Government Pension Scheme.