diff --git a/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp b/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp
index c6dc3602f3..aae0aaa452 100644
--- a/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp
+++ b/source/adios2/toolkit/format/bp5/BP5Deserializer.cpp
@@ -600,8 +600,8 @@ void BP5Deserializer::SetupForStep(size_t Step, size_t WriterCount)
                 VarRec->LastJoinedShape = NULL;
             }
         }
-        m_CurrentWriterCohortSize = WriterCount;
     }
+    m_CurrentWriterCohortSize = WriterCount;
 }
 
 size_t BP5Deserializer::WriterCohortSize(size_t Step) const