It may be a ‘Fair Deal’ – but be aware of the pensions costs…

Does your firm contract with the UK public sector? If so, are you up to date with Fair Deal?

The new Fair Deal policy, like the old Fair Deal policy, applies when employees who are members of a public service pension scheme have a compulsory transfer to a private contractor. The method of protecting the pensions rights of these individuals has changed – they now have the right to continue in membership of their public service pension scheme.

Also, individuals who have previously been provided with ‘broadly comparable’ benefits under the contractor’s own pension plan can now rejoin the relevant public service pension scheme when the contract is re-tendered.

This is a major change for both the public sector and the private sector. Public sector letting bodies, those who contract with the public sector, and trustees of ‘broadly comparable’ pension plans need to be aware of the cost implications.