What is it?

The McCloud/Sargeant judgements refer to the 2018 Court of Appeal ruling that found part of the protections included in the CARE reforms unlawfully discriminated against younger members of the Judicial and Firefighters’ pension schemes, as only older scheme members were allowed to remain in the final salary schemes.

A consultation held by HM Treasury earlier this year set out plans to allow eligible members of the NHS, Teachers, Firefighters, Police, Armed forces and Civil Service pension schemes to choose whether to receive benefits from the legacy or reformed schemes for the period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022. It also proposed that all members will move to the CARE schemes from 1 April 2022.

What this means for you

The changes will affect those who were members of the pre -2015 public service schemes as at 31 March 2012 and 31 March 2015 and were;

  • Transitionally protected as a result of being 10 years within their normal pension age in 2012.
  • Not fully transitionally protected and moved to the new post-2015 CARE arrangements on or after 1 April 2015.

Members who joined our schemes after 1 April 2012 are not affected by the changes, and will remain in their CARE schemes.

Immediate Choice and Deferred Choice

The consultation identified two approaches for members as to which scheme they wish to be a member of for the “Remedy Period” (between 2015 and 2022);

1. An immediate choice

2. A deferred choice

The immediate choice exercise will require members to make a decision in the year or two after the point of implementation in 2022.

The deferred choice will allow members to make the decision at the point when they retire or take their pension benefits.

Under either approach, those who have already retired and are in receipt of a pension will be asked to make their choice as soon as practicable after the changes are implemented.

When does this all happen?

The 2015 Remedy programme has been set up to manage the changes required from the ruling and subsequent consultation.

The 2015 Remedy programme isn’t due to begin until 1 April 2022 and we are currently exploring options on how to approach this.

We will continue to keep you informed of any new information in the coming weeks and months

To read the full Government consultation document click here

Published 11 December 2020