Some members of the Kensington and Chelsea Pension Scheme will experience delays in receiving complete pension statements due to complications arising from the McCloud remedy. The council has said that affected members will be notified of the delay and the reasons for it in their 2024/25 annual benefit statements (ABS).
The Kensington and Chelsea Pension Board met on Monday, 18 August 2025, to discuss the implementation of the 2025 ABS. A key topic was whether to delay including information about the McCloud remedy in statements for the 2024/25 scheme year.
The McCloud judgment, stemming from a 2018 Court of Appeal ruling, found that younger members of the judges' and firefighters' pension schemes had been discriminated against in 2014/15 reforms. This has led to changes across all public service pension schemes, including the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
Duncan Derbyshire, Pensions Manager, presented a report outlining the situation. According to the Public Reports Pack, LGPS administering authorities are required to include remediable service information in the ABS issued to members for the 2024-2025 scheme year, unless they choose to delay this for another year. This discretion can only be used if the administering authority deems it reasonable and notifies affected members.
While pensioner member records have been assessed and updated, and most active member records reflect any remedial service, some active members who joined after April 2022 and transferred service from other LGPS funds or public service pension schemes are yet to be assessed due to software limitations. The Public Reports Pack specifies that these limitations affect active members who have transferred in remedial service from another LGPS fund or another public service pension scheme. Records for deferred members have also not been processed due to software and resource constraints, according to the Public Reports Pack.
The Pensions Team requested the Board's acceptance to exercise their discretion not to include remediable service information in the ABS issued to active members who have not been assessed and all deferred members for the 2024 to 2025 scheme year. The Implementation of 2025 Annual Benefit Statements - Report stated that the RBKC Pensions Team will assess and update deferred and remaining active members to include any remedial service by 31 August 2026.
Active members who qualify for an Underpin addition will have this reflected in their 2025 ABS. The Public Reports Pack explains that the LGPS rules changed from 1 October 2023 to ensure eligible younger members are protected by the underpin that already protected older members from 1 April 2014, ensuring the underpin works fairly and consistently for all protected members. Those active members who have not been assessed, and deferred members, will receive a statement confirming that their pension may be protected by the McCloud remedy, but it has not been possible to reflect any protection in this year's statement.
Apologies for absence were noted from Councillor Lloyd North and Jagdeep Birdi, according to the Agenda.
