Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP)
If you were a member of the Fund before 6 April 1997, for your service that built up between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997, your pension from the Fund includes a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP), which is broadly equivalent to the benefits you have given up in the State additional pension (SERPS or S2P).
When your pension is in payment, your GMP in relation to service between 6 April 1988 and 5 April 1997 is guaranteed to increase in line with the rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) up to 3% a year from GMP Age (there is no guaranteed GMP payable from the Fund in relation to service before 6 April 1988).
Find out more about the S2P at www.gov.uk/state-pension
Following a High Court ruling in 2018, all UK pension plans like ours need to review their DB benefits to address a historic GMP inequality that exists between some male and female members. This is called ‘GMP equalisation’.
If you were a member of the Fund between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997, you may be affected by this issue – but please do not worry. We will not reduce any benefits as a result of addressing the historic GMP inequality. You may find we need to increase your pension, most likely by a small amount. Many pensions will not need adjusting at all.
Timelines
We need to review the benefits of all members of the DB Section – both pensioner members and non-pensioner members. You will be written to if your pension is due to change, this has been happening in phases and the aim is to have contacted everyone impacted by the end of this year (2024). If you don’t hear anything by then, your benefits are unaffected. However, if you haven’t heard by January 2025 and would like to check if you are affected, please contact WTW.