How does the McCloud remedy affect your public service pension?
The transitional protection given to older members when the public service schemes were reformed was found to be unlawful age discrimination. The remedy puts eligible members back into their legacy scheme for the period from April 2015 to March 2022 and gives them a choice of which scheme's benefits apply for those years, made at retirement.
- Who is covered: members in service on 31 March 2012 and on or after 1 April 2015, broadly.
- The period: 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022, the remedy period.
- The choice: legacy scheme or reformed scheme benefits for those years.
- The timing: normally made at retirement, when the actual figures are known.
01 What went wrong and what was done
When the public service pension schemes were reformed, older members were given transitional protection allowing them to remain in their legacy scheme while younger members moved to the reformed one. The courts found that protection to be unlawful age discrimination.
The remedy, given effect by the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022, rolls eligible members back into their legacy scheme for the remedy period and gives them a choice of which scheme's benefits apply for those years.
From 1 April 2022 everyone accrues in the reformed scheme. The remedy is about the seven years in between, not about the future.
Source: Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022
02 How the choice works
The choice covers the remedy period only, and it is a single election for the whole of it rather than year by year. Which option is better depends on your service, your earnings profile, the age you retire at, and how the two schemes' normal pension ages interact with your plans.
It is normally made at the point of retirement, because that is when the figures actually exist. Members are given a remediable service statement setting out both options; it is not a decision to be made in the abstract years in advance.
For members who have already retired or died since 2015, the choice is made retrospectively and arrears are paid where the legacy option is chosen. That process has taken time across the schemes and is being worked through.
Shows: how the remedy period compares under two accrual rates, on the same pensionable pay. Ignores: final salary linkage, revaluation, normal pension age differences, and any lump sum.
On the defaults above, the worked example shows £6,222 a year. Legacy accrual on the same pay gives £4,200 a year against £6,222 — but the legacy scheme usually pays from an earlier age, which is the other half of the comparison.
Source: Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022
03 What it changes in your planning
Two practical things. Scheme statements covering the remedy period may show benefits provisionally, so a figure from a projection is less firm than it looks. And the tax position for the remedy period can be recalculated, which occasionally reopens annual allowance charges for those years.
It also affects the retirement date. The legacy schemes generally have earlier normal pension ages, so a member choosing legacy benefits for the remedy period has a different reduction profile if retiring early than one choosing reformed benefits — the same actuarial reduction mechanics applied to two different normal pension ages.
None of this requires action now for a member still working. The useful step is to keep records of pay and service for the remedy period, because that is what the calculation depends on.
Source: NHS Pensions member hub
The most common misunderstanding about the remedy is that it is something you have to do now. It is not — the choice is made at retirement, when both options can be calculated on real figures rather than projections. What is worth doing now is keeping your own record of pay and service for those seven years, because the calculation depends on it and administrators have been working through a very large backlog. And treat any projection covering that period as provisional, because it usually is.
FAQ
Do I have to make the choice now?
No. The choice is normally made at retirement, when both options can be calculated from actual figures. Members receive a remediable service statement setting out the two positions rather than being asked to decide in advance.
Which period does it cover?
1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. From April 2022 all members accrue in the reformed scheme, and service before April 2015 is unaffected.
What if I have already retired?
The choice is made retrospectively and arrears are paid where the legacy option is chosen. The schemes have been working through those cases since the legislation took effect.
Sources
Regulator references
- Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 · The National Archives · 2022The statute that puts the McCloud remedy into effect across the public service schemes.Last verified: 2026-09-07
- NHS Pensions member hub · NHS Business Services Authority · 2025Member-facing guidance on retirement options and how the schemes interact.Last verified: 2026-09-07
Calculator unit tests · the assertions this page's worked example is checked against, and their last result
Changelog
- 2026-09-07 — initial publish (new format)
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Jordan Reeves
Founder of Talk Through Wealth. A software engineer for over a decade before turning to retirement planning, Jordan built the projection engine after watching family members get fragmented, country-by-country advice that never reconciled. He writes about retirement the way the engine computes it: month-by-month, lifetime-long, and skeptical of any rule of thumb that hasn't been run through the math.