The trustees of several major UK DB pension schemes have demanded a judicial review of government plans to replace the Retail Prices Index (RPI) with housing cost-based Consumer Prices Index (CPIH) as the official measure of inflation from 2030.
The Financial Times is reporting that the trustees of BT, Ford and M&S pension schemes will now bring this action, after arguing this move adversely affects more than 10m pensioners.
These pensioners will receive either lower annual payments or lower transfer values if RPI is aligned with the lower CPIH measure. The schemes have also pointed out that it will be female members that will be disproportionately hit, as they typically live longer and will therefore see lower annual increases to their pension from CPIH.
Last month the courts granted the trustees of these DB schemes an extension to consider a judicial review of this government decision, following a joint application these three main schemes.
