Why we're making these changes

Due to a legal change, all pension schemes like ours have to check Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) to make sure that men and women are being treated equally. Once we’ve made these checks, we propose converting all GMP into non-GMP pension. We’re consulting with you about that proposal. 

You do not have to do anything unless you want to comment on the conversion exercise. 

We will let you know if your pension is changing. We expect any changes to happen during summer 2026.

This video explains why pension schemes like ours are checking GMP. It was created by the UK pensions industry, so it gives general information rather than specifics for our Plan.

GMP is a small part of some people’s pension

You have a final salary pension under the Plan. When you retire, this pension gives you an income for the rest of your life.

Your pension can be made up of different parts that you build up during your membership of the Plan. The value of each part will depend on when you were employed and the pension rules at that time.

One part you might have is called ‘Guaranteed Minimum Pension’ (GMP). In most cases, GMP is only a small part of someone’s pension.

GMP could be built up between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997. It makes sure that individuals get at least a minimum level of pension income from their employer’s pension scheme. GMP was only built up by members of pension schemes that opted out of the Additional State Pension (also known as the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme or SERPS).

Your GMP can be affected by your sex

The rules for how GMPs built up were based on the way the State Pension worked at that time, which was different for men and women. As a result, men and women could build up different amounts of GMP, even if they worked for the same period of time on the same pay. 

GMP gets increased each year, both before and after retirement. But it does so differently from other parts of your pension. It’s also payable at different ages for women (age 60) and men (age 65). Sometimes this could mean a man is better off, and sometimes it could mean a woman is better off. 

In 2018, the Lloyds Bank pension schemes brought a case to the High Court to clarify whether the different GMP treatment for men and women amounted to sex discrimination. 

As a result, all pension schemes in the UK are now required by law to review GMPs that were built up between 1990 and 1997.

With EY, we have decided to also review GMPs that were built up before 1990, although we are not legally required to do so.

We need to make sure the sexes are treated equally

We have to check that men and women are being treated equally in the Plan. To do this, we will work out how much GMP you would have built up between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997 if you were the opposite sex. If this would have resulted in a higher overall pension, you could be due a slightly higher pension. Once we have worked this out, we plan to convert your GMP into non-GMP, in line with the rest of your pension.