Judges will be exempt from new pension regulations, which put a £1.5 million cap on the total amount in an individual’s pension fund.
Lord Falconer released a written ministerial statement on the changes stating that judges will not have to pay additional tax on pension savings of more than £1.5 million.
Many judges had, allegedly, threatened to resign if the pension rules were not changed.
Falconer said: “I have concluded that, as administrator of the judicial pension schemes, it would be in the best interest of the members that the schemes should not be registered schemes for the purpose of the Finance Act 2004.”
Judges currently receive pensions of up to 50% of their salary for 20 years’ service and senior judges’ salaries range from £150,000 to £180,000 per year.
Clive Fortes, a partner at actuaries consultancy Hymans Robertson, said: “I don’t have a great amount of sympathy on the basis that if you’ve got a £1.5 million pension fund, maybe you should pay more tax.”
No other occupation has been excluded from the new pension rules.
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