West Sussex Pension Fund  

What is the McCloud judgement?

When the Government reformed public sector pension schemes in 2014 and 2015, older members were protected from the changes. In December 2018, the Courts ruled that younger members of the judges' and firefighters' pension schemes had been discriminated against because the protections did not apply to them. 

This ruling is called the McCloud judgement after a member of the judges' pension scheme involved in the case. 

The rules of all public sector pension schemes, including the LGPS, changed from 1 October 2023 because of the ruling. The changes are known as the McCloud remedy and they remove the age discrimination found in the McCloud judgement. 

In the LGPS, older members were protected by the underpin. When a protected member retired, their pension in the career average scheme was compared with the pension they would have built up in the final salary scheme. If the final salary pension would have been higher, their pension increased. 

From 1 October 2023, eligible younger members are also protected by the underpin. Not all LGPS members are eligible for protection. The underpin will protect the pensions of eligible members that they built up in the remedy period. The remedy period is from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2022. Underpin protection stopped earlier if you left the LGPS or reached your final salary normal pension age before 31 March 2022. 

What do you need to do? 

Please see the McCloud Pension History Form section of this newsletter. You need to fill in a form if you have previous membership in the public sector pension scheme. 

Other than completing the form, you do not need to do anything else as we will work out if you are protected. If you are, when you take your pension, we will work out if it will increase because of the underpin. Any increase is known as a 'final underpin amount'. 

Not many members will get a final underpin amount because, for most members, the pension they built up in the career average scheme is higher than they would have built up in the final salary scheme. 

Active members

If you are a protected active member, we will include information about how the underpin might affect your pension in your 2025 annual benefit statement. We must issue this by 31 August 2025. 

If you leave the LGPS, we will work out provisional underpin figures for you. We can only work out the final figures and any increase to your pension (a final underpin amount) when you take your pension. 

Deferred members

If you are a protected deferred member, we will include information about how the underpin might affect your pension in your 2025 annual benefit statement. We must issue this by 31 August 2025. 

We will work out the final figures and any increase to your pension (a final underpin amount) when you take your pension.  

Find out more 

You can find out more about the judgement by reading the McCloud pages on the national LGPS member website: The McCloud Remedy : LGPS

Or the factsheet which can be found on our website: LGPS McCloud Factsheet 

Our main point of contact with members is our Member Portal which allows you to access your pension details and important documents 24 hours a day. The Member Portal is also the quickest and most secure way of updating your information, submitting forms and viewing documents regarding your pension benefits. 

The Member Portal has many benefits including allowing members to be able to run a pension estimate at a retirement date of your choosing. You can produce as many estimates as you like. Please note however that a Portal estimate will be based on the information currently held on your record, so it is important that you check that your details are correct. If the information we hold is not correct, then any estimate you run will not be accurate. 

HPS continually work to improve the services available to our members and in 2024 the processes on the Member Portal have been increased or improved, including:

- Amending the website address so it is more meaningful for our members: https://mypensionportal.hants.gov.uk/

- Members will now receive acknowledgement emails for processes such as:

• Updating personal information
• Submitting online forms
• Updating bank details
• Uploading of documents 

- And, most recently the implementation of a "Track my Case" function which is now live on the Retirement process for deferred members. 

The UK government has given the Money and Pensions Services (MaPS) the responsibility of creating a Pension Dashboard that will be free for all UK citizens to use to view their pension information securely, online and in one place, even if living abroad. 

All pension schemes in the UK, including the Local Government Pension Scheme, Police Pension Scheme and Fire Pension Scheme need to connect to the dashboard to provide pension members information in a secure way. The project is being managed by the Pension Dashboard Programme, you can find out more at the Pension dashboard website.

Why set up a Pension Dashboard? 

The objective is simple, for the pension industry to provide clear and simple information about an individual's multiple pension savings, including their State Pension. These dashboards could help over sixteen million people plan for their retirement, make better financial decisions and connect with lost pension pots. 

Where will it be launched? 

The Government will decide the date that pensions dashboards will be made available to the public, which is known as the dashboards available point (DAP). They will provide at least 6 months' notice of the DAP. Four areas have been outlined to consider when making this decision:

1. Sufficient Coverage - dashboards should enable most users to find information about all their pensions.
2. Works effectively - the digital architecture must have been rigorously tested and be safe to support a large number of users. 
3. Safety and security - users must be confident that the service is safe and secure. 
4. User experience - users must have a positive and consistent experience 

How will it work? 

The journey begins with you navigating to the dashboard. There, you will submit a request to access your pension information. First, to keep your data safe, an identity service - GOV.UK One Login confirms you are who you claim to be. You will be asked to give consent for your information to be used to perform the search on your pensions and to authorise providers and schemes to send your pension information to the dashboard to view - you can withdraw your consent at any time. 

Next the Pension finder service takes over, it is important to note that it is not a database, it is more like a switchboard and never holds any personal or pension data. They send your request to all pension providers and schemes, which will return a unique identifier to the dashboard for each matching pension. Then you can request the pensions information - which the providers and scheme will send directly to the dashboard - where only you can access it. 

Do you need to do anything? 

No, you do not. For the time being it is up to schemes, administrators, and employers to make sure that members data is accurate and up to date, whilst the industry works on the technical and technological framework to deliver the dashboard. 

However, to help be prepared for when the dashboard is available, you may wish to check that your personal details such as Surname, Date of Birth and National Insurance number are showing accurately on your Member Portal account or the correspondence we send to you. If there are any discrepancies, please notify us as soon as possible.