When the Government changed the way public service pension schemes worked in 2014 and 2015, it included ‘protection’ against the changes for older members. This protection was an ‘underpin’ that guaranteed the benefits those members had built up before the change would keep their value.
In December 2018, the Courts ruled that this protection discriminated against younger members of the judges’ and firefighters’ pension schemes. (McCloud was a member of the judges’ pension scheme involved in the case.)
As a result, every public service pension scheme, including the LGPS, changed from 1 October 2023 to remove this age discrimination.
The underpin worked like this. When an older, protected member retired from the LGPS, we compared their career average pension 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 accordingly.
From 1 October 2023, the underpin will also apply to younger members who built up benefits between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2022. (This protection stopped earlier if you left the LGPS or reached your final salary normal pension age before 31 March 2022.)
You do not need to do anything.
We will work out if your pension needs to increase because of the underpin.
Most members will not need an increase, because their career average pension will be higher than the pension they would have built up in the final salary scheme.
If the underpin applies to you, this is what will happen next:
Active and deferred members
We’ll explain how the underpin might affect your pension in your 2025 annual benefit statement. You’ll receive this by 31 August 2025.
We’ll confirm any extra amount when you take your pension.
Pensioners
We’ll contact you if your pension needs to increase. If you don’t hear from us, don’t worry – this means you are already receiving the higher pension amount.
You can find out more in the McCloud pages of the national LGPS member website The McCloud Remedy :: LGPS (lgpsmember.org)