The remedy for unlawful discrimination in the transitional protections in the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme (STPS), often known as the McCloud remedy, is being rolled out from 1 October 2023 onwards.
The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) uses the terminology ‘2015 Remedy’ to refer to the McCloud remedy and there is a ‘2015 Remedy Hub’ on the SPPA website.
The McCloud remedy applies to all STPS members, who started in pensionable service before 1 April 2012, with Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme (STSS) or STPS pensionable service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 (the remedy period).
This includes teachers who have retired since 1 April 2015 with STSS or STPS pensionable service and also surviving adult and children pensioners of STSS/STPS members who have died during this time.
In brief, the remedy means that teachers, former teachers and retired members can elect to have their remedy period service in either their final salary STSS or the career average STPS. Details of the remedy are available on the SPPA website.
There are three key actions as part of the implementation of the remedy which are now beginning to happen:
-
All teachers and teacher pensioners with McCloud remediable service have been rolled back into the final salary scheme for their McCloud remedy service, opening up a window where affected serving teacher members can purchase scheme flexibilities or transfer in pension from other pension schemes;
-
all new applicants for retirement with McCloud remediable service will have to exercise a McCloud remedy choice before their pension is processed;
-
all teacher pensioners with McCloud remediable service (who started teaching before 2012), or their survivors, will be offered the option of having this service in either their final salary or career average scheme.
The NASUWT wishes to see members, former members and their survivors benefiting to the fullest extent from the McCloud remedy, increasing their pension wherever possible. However, the Union cannot provide any advice on the McCloud remedy, as, by law, this can only be provided by an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA).
Members should therefore not contact the NASUWT to discuss their McCloud remedy choice, or the career average flexibilities which have become available as a result of rollback to the final salary scheme, as the Union cannot provide any advice.
Members are advised to read thoroughly the following advice on the SPPA website, which will be updated as the remedy is rolled out.
Your feedback
If you require a response from us, please DO NOT use this form. Please use our Contact Us page instead.
In our continued efforts to improve the website, we evaluate all the feedback you leave here because your insight is invaluable to us, but all your comments are processed anonymously and we are unable to respond to them directly.