The Government has decided to appeal McCloud v Ministry of Justice

The Government is to appeal against a decision that a transitional pension scheme applicable to judges was age discriminatory.

In McCloud v Ministry of Justice, an Employment Tribunal held that it was indirect age discrimination as the pension arrangements put younger judges at a disadvantage compared to older colleagues. The pension arrangements could not be justified as there was no evidence of a legitimate aim that was sought in making the changes, and (even if there were) the degree of impact was too large.

But according to a report in the Gazette, the Government has submitted a notice of appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. This appeal comes after a different decision was reached on last month in relation to a very similar set of facts applicable to the pension arrangements of the fire service.

The pension arrangements potentially affect all judges, meaning there may be issues in finding an appropriately impartial person to hear the case.

EDIT 20 December 2018: the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision mentioned in this article can be found here and the Court of Appeal decision can be found here.