Westminster Council has announced a delay in publishing the McCloud pension underpin calculations for certain members until August 2026. The decision, made by the Pension Board on 8 September 2025, is due to regulations not being in place for correct calculation of the underpin for one group, and a lack of information being provided by other schemes for another group.
The report from the Pension Board meeting states that the delay in delivering remediable service information (McCloud underpin) is due to regulations not being in place for correct calculation of the underpin for one group as well as lack of information being provided by other schemes for another group.
The specific regulations missing and the 'other schemes' failing to provide information were not detailed in the meeting report.
The McCloud case refers to a legal challenge regarding age discrimination in public sector pension schemes. An 'underpin' is a guarantee that the benefits members receive from their pension scheme will be no less than what they would have received under the previous scheme rules.
Diana McDonnell-Pascoe, Pension Project and Governance Lead, informed the board that the McCloud project is back on track following a software update. The report states that the McCloud project is back on track due to a software update being implemented, but it does not specify the name of the software or the issues with the previous version.
The Fund must exercise its discretion to delay the delivery of remediable service information (McCloud underpin) to certain groups of members, as per the statement from The Pension Regulator (TPR).
Westminster Council will notify affected members about the delay and the reasons behind it in their 2024/25 Annual Benefit Statements (ABS), providing a clear explanation for the delay.
Failure to meet the August 2026 deadline could result in a breach of law report being submitted to The Pension Regulator. The report from the Pension Board meeting mentions that a breach of law report should be submitted to The Pension Regulator if there is a failure to include the remediable service information in the 2025/26 ABSs, particularly for members where the discretion to delay the provision of this information was exercised. It also states that where The Pension Regulator finds that their expectations have not been met, they may investigate further, including considering the use of their powers to ensure that good governance standards are being maintained.
