Kent Pension Fund must review thousands of pension records for the McCloud remedy. This process will take many months to complete.
As part of the process the Fund:
- identifies all those eligible for the remedy
- obtains and verifies the required data
- undertakes a comparison check between final salary and Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) benefits
- performs a calculation.
We cannot give a deadline as we are still in the identification and data gathering phases of the process. We do not have final numbers about how many calculations we must undertake.
Most members will not have an increase in their benefits. This is because the pension in the CARE scheme is usually higher than the pension that would have built up in the final salary scheme.
You do not need to do anything. We undertake the process for all scheme members.
Pensioner and survivor members with pension in payment
If an extra payment is due because of the McCloud remedy, we pay it with interest. We pay it as soon as the process is complete.
HMRC provide guidance when we make an extra payment because of the McCloud remedy. Income tax must be deducted from the payment in line with your tax code at the point that the payment is made. If you pay more tax because of the arrears, you may reclaim the overpaid tax from HMRC.
Current and deferred members with pension not in payment
If benefits in the McCloud remedy period are higher in the final salary scheme, we notify you of the estimated amount that applies. We notify you when the process is complete.
We make final checks to assess the actual amount due. We do this when you take your pension or you transfer out your pension from the scheme.
McCloud remedy update - Summer 2025
Kent Pension Fund have been working hard to apply the McCloud remedy. We must ensure that the remedy is correct on members’ pension records.
The Fund have now decided to extend the deadline for putting the remedy in place to 31 August 2026. This is for all members who qualify.
The government allow an extension. They allow this because the McCloud remedy is a complex and difficult project. The Fund must decide if it is ‘reasonable in all circumstances’.
Before making this decision, the Fund carefully considered whether it was reasonable. They agreed it was due to several challenges, including:
- the technical rules of the remedy
- identifying which members qualify
- collecting and checking data
- staffing and resources
- delays in software updates.
The extra time will help make sure we apply the remedy correctly for all members.
About the McCloud remedy (judgement)
When the LGPS changed from a final salary to a career average pension scheme in 2014, protections for older scheme members were introduced.
Similar protections were provided in other public sector pension schemes. The Court of Appeal ruled that younger members of the Judges’ and Firefighters’ Pension schemes have been discriminated against because the protections do not apply to them. The government confirmed that there will be changes to all main public sector schemes, including the LGPS, to remove this age discrimination. This ruling is often called the ‘McCloud judgment’.
The Local Government Association (LGA) have produced information about the McCloud remedy for members. It includes key dates, FAQs, and an online tool to find out if you are affected. Find out about the McCloud remedy in the LGPS for members
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) (now called Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) have produced a factsheet summarising the McCloud judgement and the changes the government are making to the LGPS. Read the factsheet about the McCloud judgement and your LGPS pension