Age Discrimination Pension Claims

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), supported by the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), has engaged Thompsons Solicitors to launch a compensation claim against the Government, on behalf of subscribing members who were victims of discrimination due to the introduction of the 2015 CARE scheme.

It is important to note that the UK Government has already stated it will remedy the discrimination for all of the UK’s public sector workers and not just the Judges and Firefighters who brought the successful action.

Whilst the Government has agreed to amend the pension regulations so that you do not suffer any financial detriment when you retire, there are other payments which you MAY only receive if you lodge an Employment Tribunal claim. These include a small payment for injury to feelings and, where appropriate, compensation if you have recently retired on less favourable terms or have incurred unnecessary fees for financial planning.

Subject to some obvious limitations ALL subscribing (and some retired) members are eligible to join the claim. The SPF and ASPS will confirm the eligibility of all applicants with our solicitors and ineligible applications will be struck from the claim.

Members who may already have lodged claims with another lawyer or law firm should discuss with them the potential to be released from any individual contractual arrangements they entered. Such Members will need to demonstrate that they have fully terminated their relationship with their former representatives in order for our solicitors to be able to take over the claim. The Law Society of Scotland will not allow our lawyers to accept an instruction from any member who is already being represented by someone else.

Details on other limitations from joining the claim can be found on the Thompsons portal.

A letter and terms and conditions from the solicitors will be available for members to read and accept, setting out the basis upon which the claims will be pursued on their behalf.

If you would like to submit a claim, please click on the link below and register your information with our solicitors. They will then assess your claim and lodge it with the Employment Tribunal if you are eligible to claim. You should not assume that a claim has been registered for you unless you receive written confirmation that it has been lodged.

The scheme will be open for registration for a period of 21 days from 26 May 2020 to 16 June 2020. It is likely that these claims will take several months (or years) to reach a successful conclusion. Our lawyers will provide you with regular news and updates as the claim progresses.

The online portal for registering a claim can be found here: http://www.spfpensions.co.uk/

The registration process works best on a desktop, tablet or laptop. If you are having problems with registering your claim, please call Thompsons Solicitors on 0800 80 12 99 or email them at spfpensions@thompsons-scotland.co.uk

The SPF appreciates many members will have individual inquires in respect of their own personal pension circumstances. This action is not about the remedy position but separate discussions are taking place to ensure a myriad of different circumstances are considered by the Government when remedy is finally applied. This is a long and complicated process but the underlying principle of no detriment is one being adopted by all parties in these discussions.