If you’re a member of the NHS Pension Scheme and you’re affected by the public service pensions remedy (‘McCloud’ remedy), you can use the Remedy Benefits Illustrator to understand how your remedy choice is likely to affect your pension overall.
Affected Scheme members will be asked to choose between receiving 1995/2008 Scheme or 2015 Scheme benefits for your membership during the remedy period, which is from 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022.
From later in 2025, you’ll be able to make this choice when you apply for your pension benefits. After you apply, you’ll receive a letter showing your options using personalised and accurate figures, with instructions for how to confirm your choice.
In the meantime, this illustrator can help you to understand how you might be affected by the remedy.
You can also explore how different factors, like your retirement age or the amount of lump sum you want to take, may affect your overall pension benefits.
The figures from the illustrator are not exact figures or your final retirement benefit offer and cannot be used as financial advice.
If you need support to decide which option is right for you at retirement, speak to an independent financial adviser. You may be able to apply to have the cost of this advice repaid to you through the Cost Claim Back Scheme.
Start using the Remedy Benefits Illustrator
The McCloud Remedy Benefits Illustrator can help you to understand:
- if you are likely to be affected by the public service pensions remedy
- an illustration of your remedy choice
- potential figures based on your chosen retirement age
- how increases may apply to your 2015 Scheme benefits if you wait to claim them until after your normal pension age (NPA)
- your maximum tax-free lump sum and how much annual pension you would have to permanently reduce to take up to the maximum lump sum
- an illustration of your potential total pension benefits based on full-time employment
- an illustration of your potential pension benefits based on fixed part-time employment
- the potential impact of expected future salary increases on your pension at retirement
If your chosen retirement age is before your normal pension age (NPA), your illustration will show benefits that are reduced for early payment. Your NPA is the earliest you can claim benefits without any reductions. You can use the illustrator tools to see how retiring closer to your NPA affects your pension.
What the illustrator cannot show
The illustrator cannot take into account some types of pension arrangements, but you may still find it useful to understand the general impact of the remedy. It cannot show:
- the actual pension benefits you’ll receive at retirement - from later in 2025, you’ll receive exact figures after you apply to claim your benefits
- your pensions from sources other than your NHS Pension, for example, the state pension or other private pensions you may have
- partial retirement benefits - if you would like to consider partial retirement, use the partial retirement calculator.
- how any Scheme Pays election you have made will be affected by your remedy choice
- any additional pension, Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), or added years you have bought or buy in future
- any pension debits or other special arrangements
- what your dependants and beneficiaries may be entitled to
- how your pension is calculated
- the impact of age-dependant service caps
- whether you are eligible for a higher tax-free lump sum
- the effect of any Early Retirement Reduction Buy Out (ERRBO) agreement you might have
- the value of pension benefits at different normal pension ages for male nurses with Special Class status who joined the scheme before 17 May 1990
- any pension benefits transferred in from another pension scheme
Who cannot use the illustrator
Some NHS Pension Scheme members may have more complex circumstances that mean the illustrator cannot show how your remedy choice could affect your pension overall.
You will not be able to use this illustrator if you:
- have already left the Scheme or taken any of your pension benefits
- are currently a practitioner, or you have historic practitioner membership (including GPs, Dental Practitioners and Ophthalmic Practitioners)
- have had any break from the pension scheme
- work in more than one part-time role at the same time
- chose to move from the 1995 Section to the 2008 Section during the Choice Exercise in 2015
- have received no pay for more than one month due to unpaid sick leave or unauthorised absence
- have mixed service between Mental Health Officer (MHO) and Non-MHO
If you can access a Total Reward Statement (TRS), your next TRS will show you how the value of your pension benefits is affected by the remedy. You’ll be able to see the current value of your pension benefits if you choose 1995/2008 Scheme benefits for the remedy period, and an alternative view with 2015 Scheme benefits applied for the remedy period.
Troubleshooting
The McCloud Remedy Benefits Illustrator has been created for NHS Pension Scheme members by Government Actuary's Department (GAD). If you have any difficulties accessing the illustrator, you may need to:
- clear the cache and cookies in your web browser - you can find guidance on how to do this online
- adjust the zoom in your web browser
- change the resolution of your screen