The McCloud Remedy is a government fix to age discrimination in public sector pensions, including the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), following a 2018 court ruling known as the McCloud judgment.
In 2014 and 2015, the Government made changes to public sector pensions, including the LGPS. These rules varied between different public sector pensions, so if you have a pension in one of those schemes, for example, in the NHS or Teachers Scheme, you should see their website for more details.
For LGPS members these changes included protection for older members, where a comparison would be made between the old scheme rules and the new scheme rules, with an additional amount paid when the old scheme rules were more beneficial. This was ruled as unfair age discrimination.
To correct this, the government introduced the McCloud Remedy, which aims to treat all eligible members fairly, regardless of age.
How does it affect me?
The McCloud Remedy will affect very few members.
If you were a member of the LGPS before 1 April 2012 and still paying in to the scheme on or after 1 April 2014, you may be affected.
To qualify for McCloud protection, you must:
- have paid into the LGPS or another public service pension scheme before 1 April 2012
- have paid into the LGPS or another public service pension scheme during the remedy period (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2022)
- be under age 65 during some or all of the remedy period (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2022)
- not have a disqualifying gap. This is a period of more than five years when you were not a member of a public service pension scheme.
The main change is to the ‘underpin’ protection, which means your pension will be compared under both the old and new rules, and you will get the higher amount. When the LGPS changed from a final salary to a career average pension scheme in 2014, those members within ten years of their Normal Pension Age (usually age 65) on 31 March 2012 had a protection called the underpin. When a protected member takes their pension, we compare the benefits payable under the career average and final salary schemes and pay the higher amount. However, for almost all members, the career average scheme gives higher benefits, so no underpin amount is due.
The McCloud Remedy changes introduced in October 2023 provide younger members with protection equal to the underpin protection provided to older members to remove discrimination. You can visit the LGPS website for more information about the McCloud remedy and to watch an informational video.
Do I need to do anything?
If you qualify for McCloud protections, your pension will be adjusted automatically - you don’t need to take any action.
We will contact you if any changes apply to your benefits. If you’ve already retired or left, your pension may be reviewed and adjusted if necessary.
If you are a contributing member, or your benefits are on hold, your 2025 annual benefit statement will contain specific information for you about whether you qualify for protection or not. If you haven’t already, please login or register for My Pension where you can view your annual benefit statement. All statements should be available before 31 August. If you are registered, you will receive an email to let you know when it is available.
Will it increase my pension?
If the calculations show that you would have been better off under the old rules, your pension will be increased. If not, your pension remains the same.
Have you got the correct information for me?
Working with our employers we’ve confirmed that the information we hold for members is correct. We’ve also completed any work required to recalculate any benefits that have been affected by McCloud. You will have been contacted if these changes affect you. You do not need to act or contact us.
What if I have other public sector pensions?
If you have a pension with another public sector pension scheme, or a different LGPS fund, you might want to let them know about your membership with GMPF. This could help them check your McCloud eligibility within their scheme.