The government has confirmed plans to move the annual revaluation date in the Local Government Pension Scheme from 1 April to 6 April in order to mitigate the impact of high inflation on the annual allowance.

The shift in date will take revaluation out of scope of the annual allowance calculation for the 2022/23 tax year and for tax years from 2023/24 onwards, with the LGPS revaluation to be aligned with the inflationary growth allowed for when calculating how much a pension had grown for annual allowance purposes, as it was before 2016/17.

In the government response, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) revealed that 91 per cent of the 44 respondents to the consultation agreed that the annual revaluation date should change, although some highlighted challenges around implementation given the timing.

In addition to this, 9 per cent disagreed about taking forward this change, with one respondent highlighting that they agreed with the date change but disagreed overall simply because timing to deliver the change felt too tight.

However, whilst the DLUHC acknowledged the challenges associated with the timing of these new regulations, it argued that the policy aim of reducing the number of members breaching the annual allowance threshold and potentially incurring a tax charge justifies introducing the change now.

The DLUHC also revealed that nearly all (96 per cent) respondents broadly agreed that the draft regulations attached to the consultation would give effect to the intended policy aim, including some respondents who did not necessarily agree with the date change itself but agreed that the draft regulations delivered the stated policy aims.

Although some respondents also raised broader existing concerns with the 2013 LGPS Regulations, the DLUHC stated that it does not consider it "pertinent or timely" to address those issues with these new regulations.

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