McCloud Judgement and EPA

TheShape

Having looked at the consultation document it appears that if a member returned to the legacy scheme for the remedy period they would be due a refund of their contribution.
Whilst a refund of contributions is welcome the value of that returned contribution after 20+ years of inflation will be substantially reduced.
Having received my renewal of EPA notice it would seem that my EPA contributions could potentially be near to worthless if I do take the legacy scheme option at retirement and those contributions could have been put to far better use.
Any thoughts on EPA and it's value, especially for the upcoming tax tear? 

peter3hg

In the original consultation, the proposal was that contributions to EPA and similar would be refunded for all now if the Deferred Choice Underpin (DCU) was the chosen way of giving the choice of scheme as the assumption would be that benefits were accrued in the old schemes until retirement. There would be no option to keep those contributions in until the decision was made at retirement.

The DCU is the chosen method but the government have agreed to look at a way to allow for these contributions to remain in after a strong response in the consultation. The actual way this will be done hasn't been decided yet though.

A.45 After reviewing responses, and through further engagement with schemes, the government is considering ways to ensure that members may retain rights in the schemes in which they made voluntary member contributions, specifically in respect to EPA and ERRBO.
A.46 The technical detail of how this will be implemented in each scheme will be decided through scheme level discussions, and subsequent consultations on secondary legislation (scheme regulations).

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/958635/Public_Sector_Pensions_Consultation_Response.pdf