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The McCloud Remedy

When the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) changed the way it worked from final salary to career average in 2014, the scheme added a protection for members nearing retirement called an underpin. This underpin made sure that the benefits those members had built up to the date of the change would keep at least the same value. Other public sector pension schemes did the same.

However, the Court of Appeal found that in the Judge’s and Firefighter’s Pension Schemes, the protection was discriminatory because the underpin did not apply to younger members. This ruling is often called the McCloud judgment.

As a result, every public sector pension scheme, including the LGPS, has made changes to remove this age discrimination. The McCloud rule changes took effect on 1st October 2023 in LGPS. Now the underpin applies to all members who qualify for it, whatever their age.

You qualify for this change if:

  • You were paying pension contributions into the LGPS or another public sector pension scheme on or before 31st March 2012;
  • You were also paying pension contributions into the LGPS between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2022; and
  • You have been a member of LGPS or another public sector pension scheme without a break of more than 5 years running.

The rule change, known as the McCloud remedy, will remove the age discrimination for the period from 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2022.

If you qualify

  • We will work out your pension in line with the McCloud rules and make sure you receive the higher amount of pension based on whichever set of rules work better for you.
  • If you are already receiving your pension, we will increase it if necessary and add a payment with interest for any past pension you missed out on.

Please be aware:

  • There are lots of pension records to go through, so this process will take some time.
  • The underpin is unlikely to affect the pension value for many of you, and any increase will probably be small.

Read more about the McCloud remedy here:

McCloud remedy factsheet

National LGPS website

What is the McCloud remedy?

When public service pension schemes, including the LGPS, changed from final salary schemes to career average schemes in 2014 and 2015, older members were protected from the changes. The court case known as the McCloud judgment found that younger members had been discriminated against.

The Government changed the LGPS rules from 1st October 2023 to remove the discrimination. These changes are known as the McCloud remedy.

Next steps

We are in the process of reviewing pension records for our pensioners and will write to you before 31st August 2026 if the value of your pension needs to increase because of the McCloud remedy.

If you are already a pensioner with us, we will pay any arrears and interest due to you if your pension needs to be recalculated. We will also write out to you with a break-down of new pension figures.

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