GPs, practice managers and other practice staff who are members of the NHS pension and affected by the McCloud case face losing out financially because of delays in receiving key paperwork, experts have said.
Just under 400,000 members of the pension scheme – all of whom have already retired – were due to receive remediable service statements (RSS), that provide vital information about their pension benefits by April 1.
However, the Government has now announced a new timetable for the issuing of the statements by the NHS Business Authority, the earliest of which is 1 July 2025 and the latest is as far ahead as December 2026.
Under the McCloud remedy implemented to remove the age discrimination that was judged to have arisen in the NHS pension scheme, affected members can make a choice of pension benefits for the period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 (known as the ‘remedy period’).
Members have the option of receiving 1995/2008 scheme pension benefits or 2015 scheme pension benefits for the remedy period.
But a decision can only be made with information provided in a members’ RSS, since it sets out how the choice they make affects the value of their pension benefits.
Last week, a statement from the Department of Health and Social Care said the production of remediable service statements involves ‘a complex and challenging programme of work’.
Health minister Karin Smyth said ‘technical complexities, some of which extend beyond the NHS Pension Scheme, have affected delivery timelines for statements’.
She said that although the NHS Business Services Authority is prioritising the delivery of remediable service statements, a revised timetable for the statements has been agreed (see table below).
‘The revised delivery plan prioritises members based on their likelihood of facing financial detriment as a consequence of the discrimination, Ms Smyth added.
‘Government acknowledges that the revised timelines mean many members will receive their statement later than anticipated and that this will have an impact, especially on those retired members who will financially benefit from their choice.’
Members at a financial disadvantage
Graham Crossley, NHS pension expert at Quilter said these delays have made financial planning difficult for many people.
‘While we understand the technical difficulties, the impact on financial planning cannot be understated’.
He explained that because they have been left with no information about the value of their pensions, members have missed opportunities to make full use of tax allowances.
For example, Mr Crossley said lower earners might have utilised their 2024/25 ISA allowance with extra money coming in as a result of increased lump sum pension benefits but now can’t since the ISA deadline has passed.
There are additional pension tax allowances available to higher earners, such as GPs, that have also gone unused, he added.
One mechanism called ‘carry forward’ lets an individual use unused annual allowance (the maximum amount you can contribute to a pension and receive tax relief) from the last three tax years to contribute more into their pension pot.
‘If that carry forward is not used within the three years it’s lost’ said Mr Crossley. ‘Some people might have had the money and available annual allowance to carry forward but didn’t want to contribute to a pension because they were unclear what their financial position was without their statements.’
Since the abolition of the lifetime allowance, retired members who originally breached this allowance, but did not take the maximum tax free lump sum could also be eligible for tax-free cash from other pensions they hold.
However, there is a strict admin process for this (to ensure eligibility) that relies on getting what is called a transitional tax-free amount certificate but which HMRC has stated can’t be obtained without first completing your choice on your RSS, Mr Crossley explained.
‘It’s hugely complex and messy,’ he added.
‘The uncertainty has led to missed opportunities to use full allowances, and these opportunities are lost unless the government introduces exceptional measures for impacted members, such as extending carry forward rules to five years instead of three, providing immediate remediable service statements for those needing transitional tax-free amount certificates and amending the rules on certificates to enable them to be applied retrospectively to recover any overpaid tax.’
The NHS Business Services Authority said: ‘We know this extension may be disappointing for affected members who will be waiting longer than expected for their statement. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We continue to do all we can to issue RSS as quickly as possible to all affected members.’
The new deadlines for remediable service statements
| Member Class | Number of members | RSS Extension |
| Retired by 1/10/23 – formerly unprotected and only legacy benefits in payment | 5,012 | 1 July 2025 (three months) |
| Retired by 1/10/23 – formerly taper protected and only legacy benefits in payment | 25,827 | 1 July 2025 (three months) |
| Retired by 1/10/23 – formerly unprotected and both legacy and reform benefits in payment | 14,376 | 1 October 2025 (six months) |
| Retired by 1/10/23 – formerly taper protected and both legacy and reform benefits in payment | 21,175 | 1 October 2025 (six months) |
| Retired by 1/10/23 – formerly protected and benefits in payment for remedy period | 241,233 | 1 December 2026 (20 months) |
| Retired between 1/10/23 and 1 July 2025 | 67,690 | 1 December 2026 (20 months) |
| Active | 561,572 | 1 September 2025 (five months) |
| Deferred | 144,076 | 1 September 2025 (five months) |
