What equality law means - Birmingham Disability Resource Centre

Occupational pensions
Occupational pension schemes must not unlawfully discriminate against people. There is
more information about what this means in the Equality and Human Rights Commission
guide: What equality law means for you as an employer: pay and benefits.
In addition, an occupational pension scheme must make reasonable adjustments to any
provision, criterion or practice in relation to the scheme which puts a disabled person at a
substantial disadvantage in comparison with people who are not disabled.
For example:
The rules of an employer’s final salary scheme provide that the maximum pension
receivable is based on the member’s salary in the last year of work. Having worked
full-time for 20 years, a worker develops a condition which leads them to reduce their
working hours two years before their pension age. The scheme’s rules put them at a
disadvantage as a result of their disability, because their pension will only be
calculated on their part-time salary. The trustees decide to convert the worker’s parttime
salary to its full-time equivalent and make a corresponding reduction in the
period of their part-time employment which counts as pensionable. In this way, their
full-time earnings will be taken into account. This is likely to be a reasonable
adjustment to make.
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