When you'll make your decision about your NHS Pension benefits

We recognise that members affected by the Public Service Pensions Remedy - also known as McCloud - want to know when they’ll be given their choice of pension benefits for their pensionable service for the McCloud remedy period, which is from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022.

It will take time to contact eligible members who have already retired, and we’ll do this in phases, beginning with members who retired on ill health grounds.

For eligible members who retired based on their age and the beneficiaries of members who have died since retiring, we’ll begin contacting them in stages.

For the majority of pensioner members, the choice is straightforward, so we’ll write to them first.

Everyone affected will be offered their choice and if needed, we’ll backdate all payments to your date of retirement.

You do not need to do anything to get your choice - we’ll automatically contact remedy members. For most remedy members, waiting to hear from us will not have any negative effect on their options, but we understand there are some circumstances where remedy members need to make their choice more urgently.

A) You can ask to make your choice sooner if one of the following applies:

1. You’re a retired member with a shortened life expectancy of less than 12 months. You can apply to get your choice as soon as possible whether your benefits have been paid as one lump sum or you receive them as monthly payments.
2. Whilst a member of the 2015 scheme, you applied for ill health retirement during the remedy period - between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 - but you were not successful and currently receive an NHS pension.
3. You’re still working but you’ve received a diagnosis of serious ill health that may mean you're eligible for Tier 2 ill health pension benefits – which you can apply to take as a single lump sum if you have a shortened life expectancy of less than 12 months.

This means you’ll be able to decide sooner about the benefits that are right for you and for your family.

B) You can also ask to make your choice sooner if you are in receipt of benefits and meet all the following criteria:

• you had ‘tapered protection’ from moving to the 2015 Scheme - this means you were able to stay in the 1995/2008 Scheme after 1 April 2015, but had to move into the 2015 Scheme before 31 March 2022
• you had Special Class or Mental Health Officer (MHO) status during this period
• you reached the Scheme’s maximum service limit of 45 years during this period, or you would have done so had you not moved into the 2015 Scheme

For a small number of remedy members who meet all the criteria above and already in receipt of benefits, you may need to repay overpaid pension depending on which Scheme benefits you choose. The sooner you can make your choice, the less you may need to repay.

To request your choice early, please email us at fast-tracksupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk and we’ll get back to you within 7 to 10 working days. Please let us know which of the reasons from the list above apply. For example, state A) 2. or B), so we can give you the appropriate support quickly.

For now, all our processes remain the same and you should make decisions on your retirement plans based on the existing scheme rules and what’s right for your current circumstances.

Once it’s time for you to make your decision about your benefits for the remedy period, we’ll provide you with information to help inform your decision.

We’ll also explain how it may affect the pension benefits you’re receiving.

We’ve been developing and testing our choice communications in collaboration with trade unions, employer and staff representatives, a variety of members and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over the last year to ensure they’re as clear and helpful as members need them to be. We expect that in the vast majority of cases, this communication will be all members need to make an informed decision, and they will not need to pay for professional support to get their remedy.