The Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) has called on the government to stop routine consultations for technical recalculations such as the guaranteed minimum pensions (GMP) fixed-rate revaluation for early leavers.

In its response to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) recent consultation on GMP fixed-rate revaluation, the SPP agreed with the proposal to maintain the revaluation rate at 3.25 per cent a year from April 2027, saying the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) analysis reflected medium-term expectations for inflation and earnings growth.

However, the SPP argued in its response that while most consultations remain valuable, “they can lose their value when they are applied mechanically to formulaic, routine, or purely mathematical updates”, such as applying a standard GAD indexation formula to GMP revaluation.

This would align with the Chancellor’s recent Simplification and Agency of Government letter to reduce consultation to support policy efficiency, the society added.

Instead, the SPP recommended that future rates should be set and published by GAD, rather than being subject to a consultation at each review.

The SPP’s response said that the rate could be confirmed as early as September, rather than after an eight-week consultation and consideration of responses, helping schemes avoid costly manual workarounds and urgent system changes.

SPP Administration Committee chair, Jo Fellowes, commented: “We support the proposed continuation of the 3.25 per cent interest rate, but the issue now is with the process. When a rate is driven by established actuarial calculations and economic projections, consulting on the same exercise every time adds little value.

“The industry needs certainty, not another round of paperwork. A straightforward statutory mechanism for GAD to determine and publish the rate would cut unnecessary administration and, crucially, allow schemes and administrators more time so they can make preparations well in advance.”

The DWP’s consultation on Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Fixed Rate Revaluation closes for responses on 29 October 2026.

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