The McCloud Remedy for the NHS Pension Scheme has been delayed, with a new 'go live' date of October 2023 confirmed following "continued delays in the production and release of a suite of Provision Definition Documents (PDD) from HM Treasury".

The NHS Pension Scheme Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 explained that the PDD are required by all public sector schemes to enable them to commission system suppliers and complete resource and financial plans.

In light of this, the NHS Pension Scheme therefore confirmed that, despite initial expectations that the remedy would be delivering immediate detriment cases during 2021-22, the commencement of McCloud Remedy has not taken place.

Regulatory changes based on the interpretation of the PDDs are now expected to be laid in parliament in August 2023 following a public consultation, based on the expectation that the PDD would be delivered in full by 31 July 2022.

"This has meant a replan of the McCloud Remedy project with the current target Go Live date now being October 2023, which is based on receipt of all outstanding documents from HMT by the June 2022 deadline," the report stated.

The report explained that the McCloud remedy project will move from the preparatory phase and commence delivery preparations during 2022/23, including the production of High-Level Business Requirements (HLBRs).

The main areas of work will include the specific work on priority rejected ill-health cases, the creation of requirements for systems development based on PDDs, and the development, testing and release of retrospective remedy systems.

Engagement efforts will also increase to ensure that a "substantive and comprehensive suite of support products" is made available to members, employers and stakeholders.

The reform project will also support the delivery of the member contribution changes, which are due to come into force in October 2022, alongside work on the prospective legacy scheme changes.

More broadly, the report revealed that the NHS pension scheme liabilities have increased by £112.8bn to £869.9bn as at 31 March 2022.

As the NHS Pension Scheme is an unfunded scheme, these liabilities are underwritten by the Exchequer.

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