After 31 December 2023, retained EU law – including case law – will cease to have effect in domestic law unless restated explicitly. One area affected is that of equality.
Draft regulations have been laid before Parliament which set out equality provisions applying to occupational pension schemes under the Equality Act 2010, restating the effect of two court cases in legislation:
- after Allonby, in which the ECJ held that a notional opposite sex comparator may be used in an equal pay claim, requirements in the Equality Act 2010 and Pensions Act 2004 for there to be an actual opposite sex comparator in an occupational pension scheme for a member to show sex discrimination have been removed;
- following Walker v Innospec Ltd, the restriction on pensionable service that can be taken into account in calculating survivor benefits for same-sex partners to post-December-2005 service will be removed.