Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that retired NHS staff affected by the McCloud Judgement receive their full pension entitlements for the remedy period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022; and whether his Department will publish a timeline for implementing the second phase of the McCloud Remedy.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is implementing the McCloud remedy for impacted members of the NHS Pension Scheme. Remedy implementation is a complex and large-scale undertaking. The core element of the remedy will provide members with a choice of benefits at retirement for the period the discrimination identified by the McCloud judgment was effective. Approximately 350,000 retired members will be offered this choice retrospectively.
The Department expects that the majority of impacted retired members will not receive their choice until after April 2025. Whilst the majority of impacted retired members are likely to already be in receipt of their most beneficial set of benefits, the Department is working with the NHSBSA to accelerate the provision of this choice, prioritising members for whom there would be a significant and immediate financial impact. The NHSBSA will communicate revised timelines with members once these are confirmed.