FOI reference: FOI-2025-3311
You asked
1. Are purely age-related employer pension contributions still in use at the ONS?
2. Has the ONS ever sought or received (in-house, or externally) a legal opinion on whether its age-related employer pension contributions (as shown in Schedule E above) would or would not be justified as exempt discrimination of a protected characteristic under the Equality Act?
3. Copies of any legal opinions received.
4. Any further documents related to arguments and decision making related to the setting of the age-related employer pension contribution rates.
We said
Thank you for your request.
As a civil service employer, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is required to enrol its staff into a Civil Service Pension (CSP) scheme when they join the organisation. It is standard practice for new starters to be enrolled into a defined benefit scheme, with the option to transfer to a defined contribution scheme, but instances will occur whereby eligibility will determine that only membership to the defined contribution scheme is available to them.
CSP, which is managed by the Cabinet Office, determines membership eligibility for each scheme, as well as the arrangements in place for contributions and benefits.
Unlike the defined benefit schemes, the CSP defined contribution scheme sets age related contribution rates and remains an option for CSP members.
We did seek legal advice during the 2021 Census Field Force recruitment campaign, on high-level considerations. However, this legal advice is subject to Legal Professional Privilege and therefore is exempt under s.42(1) of Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Whilst we acknowledge that there are transparency arguments in favour of disclosure to help to understand the legality of our organisation's position regarding age-related employer contributions, we feel that the information already in the public domain fulfils this requirement. Furthermore, the inherent public interest in the need to safeguard the full and frank discussions between organisations and their legal advisors is strong. The public interest test falls in favour of withholding this information in this case.
We do not hold any further documents regarding decision-making on the setting of age-related employer pension contributions.