The high court decision to require DB schemes to equalise Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) has left the industry with a conundrum to solve. To do this will require a significant amount of time, effort (when trustee and administrator bandwidth is already stretched) and cost. This is balanced against the impact for many members being modest, albeit the combined total of the extra payments to members will be many billions.

Guidance and best practice to help trustees implement Guaranteed Minimum Pension equalisation (GMPe) in a proportionate and cost-effective way continues to evolve. There is now a clear steer from the Regulator that schemes should be getting their data ducks in a row and progressing towards equalisation. However, many schemes have been adopting a wait and see approach, hoping to benefit from learnings/efficiencies coming out of the early adopters.