What is McCloud?
When the Government reformed public service pension schemes in 2014 and 2015, older members were protected from the changes. In December 2018, the Courts ruled that younger members of the judges’ and firefighters’ pension schemes had been discriminated against because the protections did not apply to them.
This ruling is called the McCloud judgment after a member of the judges’ pension scheme involved in the case.
The rules of all public service pension schemes, including the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), changed from 1 October 2023 because of the ruling. The changes are known as the McCloud remedy and they remove the age discrimination found in the McCloud judgment.
In the LGPS, older members were protected by the underpin. When a protected member retired, their pension in the career average scheme was compared with the pension they would have built up in the final salary scheme. If the final salary pension would have been higher, their pension increased.
From 1 October 2023, eligible younger members are also protected by the underpin. Not all LGPS members are eligible for protection. The underpin will protect the pensions of eligible members that they built up in the remedy period. The remedy period is from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2022. Underpin protection stopped earlier if the member left the LGPS or they reached their final salary normal pension age before 31 March 2022.
The LGPS member website has lots of useful information to signpost your members to.