Responding to the fallout

Neil Richardson explores the outcome of the government’s McCloud consultation and what you need to consider before making a decision.

In April 2015, public sector pension schemes were reformed, with most members moved into new career average arrangements.

Following consultations with member representatives when the schemes were reformed, transitional protections were put in place to protect those close to retirement. These protections meant that members within 10 years of retirement on March 31, 2012 would not move into the reformed schemes, usually referred to as the 2015 scheme. It also meant that those between 10 and 13.5 years from retirement would move to the reformed scheme, but later.

In December 2018, the Court of Appeal found that these protections unlawfully discriminated against younger members of the judicial and firefighters’ schemes. In July 2019, the government accepted that the judgment applied to all the main public service pension schemes, including the NHS.

This consultation is the government’s remedy to remove this discrimination from all public sector pension schemes.