14.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 15.  On 18 January 1989 Mrs Stec injured her back at work and was unable to continue working. She was awarded Reduced Earnings Allowance (REA – see paragraph 26 below) from 24 January 1990. On 13 March 1993 she reached the age of 60 and as from 31 March 1996 her award of REA was replaced by an award of Retirement Allowance (RA – see paragraph 30 below). 16.  The applicant appealed against this decision on the ground of sex discrimination to the Trent Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT), which allowed her appeal on 4 October 1996, and the adjudication officer subsequently appealed to the Social Security Commissioner (“the Commissioner”). 17.  The Commissioner joined Mrs Stec’s case to those of the other three present applicants, and also to that of Mrs Hepple. Having heard arguments on 11 and 12 December 1997, the Commissioner decided on 8 May 1998 to refer the following questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ):
“1.  Does Article 7 of Council Directive 79/7/EEC permit a member State to impose unequal age conditions linked to the different pension ages for men and women under its statutory old-age pension scheme, on entitlement to a benefit having the characteristics of Reduced Earnings Allowance under a statutory occupational accident and disease scheme, so as to produce different weekly cash payments under that scheme for men and women in otherwise similar circumstances, in particular where the inequality:
(a)  is not necessary for any financial reason connected with either scheme; and
(b)  never having been imposed before, is imposed for the first time many years after the inception of the two schemes and also after 23 December 1984, the latest date for the Directive to be given full effect under Article 8? 2.  If the answer to Question 1 is Yes, what are the considerations that determine whether unequal age conditions such as those imposed in Great Britain for Reduced Earnings Allowance from 1988 to 1989 onwards are necessary to ensure coherence between schemes or otherwise fall within the permitted exclusion in Article 7? 18.  In his order of reference the Commissioner observed:
“On the main issue, it is apparent from the information before me (and the adjudication officers so concede) that the imposition after 1986 of unequal age conditions on REA for the first time was not necessary to maintain the financial equilibrium or coherence (in so far as that word is understood in a financial sense) of the UK social security schemes.
It is also apparent (and on the information before me I so decide as a fact) that such imposition was not necessary to enable the United Kingdom to retain the different pension ages under its old-age scheme. That difference had coexisted with the Industrial Injuries Scheme ... for nearly 40 years from 1948 without it, and REA could simply have been left as it was, or a non-discriminatory cut-off age adopted, without upsetting the pension system as it had always operated.
The real question therefore is the more difficult one of whether a government which considers it a costly anomaly to go on paying a benefit such as REA to people too old to work is permitted to impose a new cut-off at unequal ages, claiming the benefit of the exclusion in Article 7 for the ‘possible consequences for other benefits’ having regard to what was said in the [ECJ’s] judgment in Graham, on the ground that the ages selected are the same as those for the pension, and ... the government take the view as a matter of policy that the income-replacement functions of REA should be performed after pension age by the pension, plus the very much smaller ‘Retirement Allowance’ instead.” 19.  The ECJ gave judgment on 23 May 2000 (see paragraph 41 below). On 31 July 2000 the Commissioner, following the ECJ’s ruling, struck out the applicants’ cases where they were the appellants before him and allowed the appeals where the adjudication officers had been the appellants. 20.  On 11 November 1973 Mr Lunn suffered a work-related injury to his right hand, as a result of which he had to stop working. From 12 May 1974 he received Special Hardship Allowance, which was converted to REA from 1 October 1986. On 19 May 1988 he reached the age of 65 and from May 1993, when he turned 70, he received a statutory retirement pension. On 26 March 1996 an adjudication officer reviewed the award of REA and decided that, with effect from 31 March 1996, it should be replaced by an award of RA, paid at approximately 25% of the REA rate. 21.  The applicant appealed on the ground that a woman in the same circumstances would have been treated as having retired on or before 19 May 1988 and would have been entitled to a frozen rate of REA for life, a more valuable benefit. On 24 September 1996 the Stockport SSAT dismissed his appeal, and Mr Lunn appealed to the Commissioner, who referred the case to the ECJ (see paragraphs 17-19 above). 22.  Mrs Spencer suffered a work-related injury to her neck on 17 July 1966. She was awarded Special Hardship Allowance from 15 January 1967 and from 1 October 1986 this was converted to an award of REA. Her sixtieth birthday was on 11 December 1986 and she received a retirement pension from 23 December 1986. It was decided on 10 May 1993, with effect from 11 April 1988, to freeze for life her award of REA at 25.28 pounds sterling (GBP) per week. 23.  The applicant appealed to the Bolton SSAT on the ground that, had she been a man, she would have continued to receive unfrozen REA. The SSAT allowed her appeal on 30 November 1994, and the adjudication officer appealed to the Commissioner, who referred the case to the ECJ (see paragraphs 17-19 above). 24.  On 12 March 1982 Mr Kimber injured his back at work and was unable to continue working. He was awarded Special Hardship Allowance from 15 September 1982, converted to REA from 1 October 1986. He reached the age of 65 on 30 September 1989 and received a retirement pension from 29 September 1994. On 29 April 1996 an adjudication officer reviewed his award of REA and decided that with effect from 31 March 1996 it should be replaced by an award of RA. 25.  The applicant appealed to the Eastbourne SSAT, on the ground that a woman in his circumstances could have chosen to have been treated as retired from 10 April 1989, and so would have been entitled to frozen REA for life, a more valuable benefit than RA. The SSAT allowed his appeal on 2 October 1996 and the adjudication officer appealed to the Commissioner, who referred the case to the ECJ (see paragraphs 17-19 above).