McCloud Judgement – removing age discrimination from the NHS Pension scheme

September 27, 2021

In 2015 the government made changes to reform the majority of public service pension schemes. These reforms did not apply to members within 10 years of their normal pension age on the 31 March 2012, who remained in their legacy schemes with ‘transitional protection’.

A court case determined that the way these schemes were introduced was discriminatory on grounds of age. It is often referred to as the McCloud judgment.

As a result of this ruling, HM Treasury are now implementing a remedy to remove the age discrimination issue.

What the judgement means for you

The intention is that the remedy will be implemented with effect from 1 April 2022, and it will impact on people differently, depending on their individual circumstances. Please review the separate flow chart for more information – McCloud example flow chart. There is no action to take at the moment.  Additional information will follow in due course, once the legislation has been finalised.

You may find it useful to read this glossary of the terms and phrases used.​ read our glossary (PDF: 159KB) You can find additional information on the NHS Pensions website using these links below:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/february-2021-update-government-changes-public-service-pension-schemes

Understanding if your NHS Pension is affected by changes to public sector pensions | NHSBSA

For more information please click here.