New McCloud consultation seeks to iron out details of remedy
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The government is consulting again on the McCloud remedy in the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales, including on the draft regulations. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 30 June.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities published a response to the 2020 McCloud consultation last month, setting out how it plans to remedy age discrimination in the LGPS, having been ordered to do so by the courts.
“We are now seeking views on issues relating to the McCloud remedy, where a) we stated in the government response we would be reconsulting to obtain further views, or b) our initial consultation did not address the issue,” the department said. It is also seeking views on draft scheme regulations that would implement the remedy.
DLUHC is seeking general views on the following:
- Aggregation – Determining the rules applicable to decide whether a member with multiple LGPS memberships has underpin protection in some or all of these.
- Club transfers – Determining the rules applicable to decide whether a member with previous membership of another public service pension scheme has underpin protection in respect of their LGPS membership.
- Flexible retirement – How the underpin should work in respect of flexible retirement, particularly for cases of ‘partial’ flexible retirement, where a member does not take all their accrued career average benefits.
- Divorce – How the scheme’s divorce and underpin calculations interact.
- Injury allowances – How a retrospective increase to a member’s pension arising from McCloud remedy may impact any injury allowances payable.
The department is also inviting technical comments and comments on implementation in areas where the policy approach has been determined. They are:
- Excess teacher service – The retrospective admission to the LGPS of certain teachers who have multiple employments.
- Compensation – The circumstances where a member may be paid compensation where they have suffered a loss relating to the age discrimination found in the McCloud case or the McCloud remedy.
- Interest – The interest terms that will apply where payments are made later than would have been the case, due to the McCloud discrimination
Consulting firm Aon has welcomed the consultation. Senior consultant Virginia Burke said the government has given "a well considered response to contentious and complex issues", such as aggregation and flexible retirement.
"We welcome the fact that government is seeking further views on these areas to make sure it gets the policy right – the last thing LGPS members and administrators need are further tweaks down the line," Burke said.
How should the issues raised in the consultation be approached in your view?
