@JoshuaRozenberg: #Judges’ #pensions at risk

Judges’ pensions at risk

Part-time judges could lose £3.5 billion in benefits under REUL bill

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— Joshua Rozenberg (@JoshuaRozenberg) February 16, 2023

More than 11,000 serving or former part-time judges in England and Wales stand to lose pension benefits worth a total of £3.5 billion at the end of this year if the government’s much-criticised Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is passed by parliament and no further action is taken by the justice secretary.

The REUL bill, which is due to begin its detailed scrutiny in the House of Lords next week, will automatically revoke almost all EU-derived law — apart from specified provisions that are retained by ministers.

Part-time judges are paid pensions under the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) Regulations 2017. However, these regulations had to be amended as a result of a ruling in the O’Brien case by the EU’s court of justice in 2018. New provisions in the Judicial Pensions (Fee Paid Judges) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 are expected to take effect on 1 April.

Lawyers say that the 2017 regulations and the latest amendments are derived from the UK’s government’s obligation to give effect to EU directive 81/97, which banned discrimination against part-time workers. But there is no mention of pensions legislation in the Ministry of Justice section of the government’s so-called retained EU law dashboard.

Read more: https://rozenberg.substack.com/p/judges-pensions-at-risk

By

Robert Williams