The Milroy Case
Unfair pension treatment for part-time Reserve service pre-2015
On 5 August 2024 an Employment Tribunal found in favour of Major Charles Milroy, judging that by (i) denying the claimant access to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 and successor schemes and (ii) using a divisor of 365.25 to calculate the claimant’s daily rate of pay, the claimant was treated less favourably as a part-time worker than the respondent treated a comparable full-time worker in terms of the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations (PTWR) 2000. The full judgement can be read here.
The MOD submitted an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) on the 17 September 2024.
On 29 Jan, the Milroy Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) refused the MOD’s appeal against the original Employment Tribunal’s decision on all 4 grounds, finding that the claimant was a part-time worker who had been treated less favourably than his regular counterparts in pension and pay terms. This is a significant outcome.
With the exception of the 2-year qualifying period, this decision appears to indicate that: non mobilised reserve service prior to 1 Apr 2015 should have been pensionable under AFPS 75 or 05; and that calculating the reserve rate of pay by an annual divisor of 365.25 (rather than a smaller number that took account of non-working days) was wrong.
Forces Pension Society CEO, Maj Gen Neil Marshall, commenting on the judgement, said:
“We are in dialogue with the MOD on how it intends to remedy these wrongs; we have been informed that they are reviewing the judgement in detail and will provide an update once their assessment is complete. This is likely to be a complex and time-consuming process.
“In the meantime, if you believe this judgement affects you, visit forcespensionsociety.org “
FPS is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation providing pension guidance to its growing membership base of more than 65,000 serving personnel and veterans. The Society champions pensions on behalf of the whole military community and this year, celebrates its 80th anniversary. For more information about our work, visit forcespensionsociety.org