The government has launched a consultation on plans to amend the NHS Pension Schemes Regulations to implement the second part of the McCloud remedy, with the second part of the remedy to come into effect by 1 October 2023.

This is the latest in a number of consultations looking to implement the necessary changes for the second phase of the remedy, with consultations previously launched in relation to the Civil Service Pension Scheme, Armed Forces Pension Scheme, and firefighters' and police pensions.

Although the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 provided a framework to allow public service pension schemes to remedy the impact of unlawful age discrimination, the latest round of consultations is seeking views on plans for second part of the remedy.

This second retrospective part of the remedy aims to remove the effect of the transitional protections.

The changes are expected to impact around 1.1 million NHS Pension Scheme members with remediable service, and aim to return members who moved to the 2015 scheme back into the legacy scheme for their pensionable service effected by the discrimination during the remedy period, from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022.

As a result of the changes, the scheme will also be able to offer members a choice of whether to receive, legacy scheme benefits or 2015 scheme benefits for their remediable service benefits, both of which are payable from the legacy scheme.

It will also allow the scheme to correct any overpayment or underpayment of pension benefits or member contributions already paid in relation to a member because of either rollback or a member’s choice.

Alongside this, the amendments are intended to facilitate the payment of appropriate compensation to address financial losses arising from the discrimination or operation of the remedy.

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