The McCloud Ruling could leave you disadvantaged financially. We are here to help you minimise that risk.
The Government has been legislating to remedy the age discrimination in public sector pension schemes which was identified by the Court of Appeal judgments in the McCloud and Sargeant cases. The remedy will be applied on the 1st October 2023.
The Government will return NHS Pension Scheme members, who moved to the 2015 CARE scheme, back into their legacy scheme (1995/2008) for their pensionable service.
A choice will be offered at retirement, whether a member will receive legacy scheme benefits or 2015 CARE benefits, for their Remediable Service. It is vital to Remedy unequal treatment, by reverting to the most beneficial option.
Members will be given the choice of which scheme benefits they wish to receive for the remedy period, from the date the reformed scheme was introduced to the date the legacy scheme was closed for further accrual.
They must also facilitate the payment of appropriate compensation to address financial losses arising from the discrimination or operation of the remedy.
Your claim will have a big impact on your future finances, so you need to make the right decision. Each claim needs to be made on a 'case by case' basis, as each and every claim will be unique. For some the choice will be simple, but for others it will be more complex. The Government currently estimates that removing the unlawful discrimination for the remedy period will cost approximately £17 billion.
Our NHS Pension Claims service is suitable for members who fit all or some of the following criteria:
a) a Hospital Consultant / GP / Dentist or NHS Executive.
b) a member of the NHS Pensions scheme 1995/2008 and joined the 2015 CARE Scheme between 1st April 2015 and 31st March 2022.
c) suffered an Annual Allowance tax charge between 1st April 2015 and 31st March 2025, so a 10 year period (the reason for this is due to the fact that unpicking the AA calculations will have an effect on AA carry forward until the 2026/27 tax year.
d) opted out of the NHS pension scheme due to punitive taxation concerns and lost pensionable service, benefits and family benefits. You may also have purchased your own protection policies as a direct result of this action.
e) cancelled NHS Added Years due to punitive taxation concerns.
f) reduced hours and therefore suffered financial losses to help avoid punitive tax charges.
g) paid tax liabilities that should not have occurred during the remedy period, whether via NHS Scheme Pays, out of savings, a bank loan or mortgage.
h) retired prematurely due to punitive tax concerns.
i) suffered either physical or mental detriment eg. anxiety, worry and had financial concerns during the remedy period.
j) you would have taken a different course of action had you known that continued membership of your legacy scheme during the remedy period was an option.
Although the exact process has yet to be announced by NHS Pensions, we do not expect it to be straightforward or simple for you to make that informed decision and make a claim. There is likely to be a process that involves detailed paperwork, various calculations, scheme pays adjustments, annual allowance calculations, long term pension analysis, data checking and addressing NHS Pension Agency, NHSBSA and employer errors. Getting you back to where you need to be, will involve the un-picking of 7 years of NHS pension scheme membership. This will likely lead to the revision and retrospective change of historic tax returns, the claiming of tax back from the HMRC or the NHS pension scheme, to re-adjust annual pension allowance calculations (to ensure the correct carry-forward of annual pension allowances moving forward) and claim for any financial detriment caused as a result of the discrimination.
Using our medical financial expertise, our service is designed to make sense of the intricacies surrounding the McCloud Remedy, provide you with a detailed personalised report and fully support you in making your NHS Pension Claim. We will help in gathering suitable evidence and will perform complex calculations.
We will work alongside you, your accountant and financial advisers, to help complete any necessary NHS/HMRC forms in support of your claim. This may well need to be completed by you online and you will likely be provided with your own personal login details. We expect you will need to upload documents and evidence. Being prepared and having all that you need to make a claim when the opportunity presents itself will undoubtedly prove invaluable, particularly for the more complex claims.
Our 6 easy steps process will help you make the best possible choice on your NHS Pension Claim. It is designed to be as simple but as enlightning as possible.
Our fee will form part of your McCloud Remedy Claim to NHS Pensions as a "reasonable claimed expense for an agent / tax adviser" so our service should not cost you anything.
The invoiced cost for our NHS Pension Claims service is £1,995 inclusive of VAT for a Level 2 claim and £TBA for a Level 3 claim.
An initial non-refundable fee of £995 inclusive of VAT, is payable when you sign up for the service. This will also act as your deposit if you need to access the Level 2 and Level 3 service.
Registering your interest is with no obligation to proceed, with an initial assessment or claim.
NHS Pension Claims are a member of the Medical Professional Partnership. We specialise in helping Doctors and NHS Executives with their McCloud Remedy claims. Further information can be found on our About Us page. Should you require independent financial advice we will refer you to Medical Professional who are an appointed representative of Vision Independent Financial Planning who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
