It’s been more than seven years since the Court of Appeal ruled that changes to public sector pensions unlawfully discriminated against younger workers, and the Government introduced the McCloud remedy to fix it.
The changes saw thousands of dedicated public servants forcibly switched to detrimental pensions schemes, whilst older workers either kept either their old arrangement, or the benefits of their old scheme.
This has left thousands of teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and firefighters waiting years for compensation.
Across the UK, this has hit at least 400,000 civil servants and more than half a million teachers.
In Scotland, more than 13,000 police officers were impacted and are due remediation, as are around 90,000 NHS workers, according to figures produced by the Scottish Government.
It is understandable that, with so many people needing remediation, there could be delays, particularly for more complex cases or older cases that need to be examined manually.
But these are having a significant impact on people’s lives.
This is particularly true for the communities I represent in Edinburgh West, many of whom have found the last few years more challenging, with the soaring cost of living and sky-high energy bills.
When I first spoke to a constituent affected, it brought me back to one of the first conversations I’d had as an MP, with a WASPI woman.
And I couldn’t believe the Government had let another pensions change go badly wrong.
This time it was a retired police officer who served communities in Scotland for 25 years. His pension scheme was forcibly changed in 2017 to the CARE—career average revalued earnings—scheme, which was found to be discriminatory.
He retired in February 2023 with his 25% lump sum, on the assumption that the remedial scheme would be in place by October that year.
He estimates that he is now owed more than £30,000 in terms of both his commuted lump sum from the new scheme and the lower monthly pension.
He is also one of thousands of immediate detriment officers still waiting for their remediation letter from the pension authorities, despite claims that the number of retired officers receiving these has accelerated, including in Scotland.
Another constituent started working pre devolution for Lothian and Borders police, as it was in 1996 and retired in 2022, knowing he would only receive his pension for his service between 1996 and 2015, while the remedy was calculated.
He was told at the time that he would receive his remediable service statement by April 2025, three years after his retirement. He also estimates a loss in pension income of more than £30,000, given that seven years of his service to our community was not counted when he first retired.
These are just some examples to show the impact that the remedy process has had on people who have dedicated their lives to serving our communities.
It is unfair and must be tackled.
In written answers to myself and other MPs, Ministers have said that it is up to individual pension schemes and their managers to implement the remedy rather than the relevant Government Department.
And I accept that, but that seems to allow the schemes to delay or leaves them without the resources and support that they need to process claims at pace.
It doesn’t seem that the Government is giving these Departments and pension authorities the resources they need to administer thousands of claims.
One of the key elements of this is the RSS notices – the Remediable Service Statement, which gives affected workers a clear understanding of their options.
This is slowing down the process of calculating and awarding remedial pay, particularly for police pensions, as there appears to be a severe backlog in issuing those notices to retired officers to allow them to make their choice.
All this is leaving my constituents in Edinburgh West and thousands of others across the UK facing years of further uncertainty on their finances and losing out on money that they are entitled to for their work.
After my debate in Parliament, I hope we will finally see the action to help pension schemes, and the devolved governments drive up the delivery of these remedial payments.
Because for these public servants, after a lifetime of serving our communities, teaching our children and keeping us safe, safety, security and financial stability in their retirement is the least they deserve.
Seven years since the ruling that changes to public sector pensions discriminated against younger workers, thousands still wait for compensation
