PSI6.1.28 - Total Benefits on Retirement at Normal Retirement Age: General - Sex Discrimination- The Barber Case

(This archived guidance relates to HMRC discretionary practice before the 6th April 2006. For current guidance on Registered Pension Schemes see the Registered Pension Schemes Manual)

The first main case on this question to be decided by The European Court of Justice was Barber v Guardian Royal Exchange Group (17 May 1990). The case concerns pensions paid under private occupational schemes which are contracted -out of SERPS but is likely to have much wider implications for all sex-based differences in pension schemes.

The Court held that for a man made compulsory redundant to be entitled to claim only a deferred pension, payable at normal retiring age, when a woman in the same position could claim an immediate pension, was a breach of Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome. Article 119 is basically about equal pay for equal work. The Court held that pensions, other than state pensions, are deferred pay attracting the same principle of equality. The case is particularly important because it concerns both access to benefits and the level of benefits payable. The judgement could have a significant effect on our practice in a number of areas, and at the time of writing these are being considered.

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