The McCloud remedy, explained
Who the McCloud remedy may affect, the 2018 Court of Appeal ruling, the remedy period, the three tests for being in scope, the choice of old or new scheme benefits, correcting annual allowance tax, and how each public service scheme handles it.
2 min 46 s · Captions · Official sources checked 30 September 2026 · Published
Transcript
If you were in a public service pension scheme on or before 31 March 2012, and were still building your pension after April 2015, you may be affected by the McCloud remedy.
When public service pensions were reformed in 2014 and 2015, members close to their pension age were protected, and younger members were moved to new schemes. In December 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled that this was unlawful age discrimination.
The fix is the McCloud remedy. For most schemes, it covers service from April 2015 to March 2022.
You're usually in scope if you were in public service by March 2012, you served in the remedy period, and you had no gap longer than five years.
For most schemes, those years were moved back to your old scheme in October 2023, and you choose old or new scheme benefits for them. Not yet retired then? You choose when you retire. Already retired? You get an immediate choice, based on your remediable service statement.
Your annual allowance tax charges for those years can change too. You correct them through HMRC's online adjustment service, not your tax return.
The details depend on your scheme.
In the NHS, you choose 1995 or 2008 Section benefits, or 2015 Scheme benefits.
Teachers choose final salary or career average benefits.
Civil servants choose classic, classic plus, premium or nuvos benefits, or alpha.
The Armed Forces have six legacy schemes, alongside AFPS 15.
Police officers choose 1987 or 2006 scheme benefits, or the 2015 scheme.
Firefighters, whose case was decided with McCloud, choose 1992 or 2006 scheme benefits, or the 2015 scheme.
Judges have a one-off options exercise instead, with three months to choose.
In local government, there's no choice: the final salary underpin is extended automatically.
Several schemes have announced delays, so keep your remedy statements together as they arrive.
To see whether McCloud and the annual allowance could affect you, start with Remedy's free check at remedy.tax.