The government has written to the departments responsible for the McCloud remedy, requesting details of their plans to issue remaining remediable service statements (RSS) and remediable pension savings statements (RPSS) to all affected members.

During a House of Commons (HoC) debate, Edinburgh West MP, Christine Jardine, raised concerns over the delays to the McCloud remedy, arguing that "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".

Jardine highlighted a number of example cases where savers have faced delays, demonstrating 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," she added, querying whether the government could outline its plans to work with these authorities to ensure rapid delivery of remedial pay.

"What steps will the government take to ensure that pension authorities can also deliver RSS notices to speed up the process of calculating and awarding remedial pay?" she added.

Jardine suggested that "that is particularly important 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 under the law".

Whilst Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Emma Reynolds, said she "absolutely understands the point", she also emphasised that "delivering the remedy to more than 3 million affected scheme members is also an intensive administrative challenge".

"There are many different elements to it, but the most crucial is that all those affected must be provided with individualised information about their pension entitlements during the 2015 to 2022 remedy period, through what is known as an RSS," she explained.

"In addition, a smaller group of members, whose tax position during the remedy period may have changed, need to be provided with an RPSS.

"Given the complexity of the McCloud remedy, schemes are also providing significant levels of guidance and online resources to help members understand the information they receive and the decision they need to make.

"That information is often very complex, as hon. Members know because many have been in the position of receiving it."

Reynolds also pointed out that providing these statements to members, together with the other aspects of implementing the remedy, is the responsibility of pension scheme managers, while the devolved administrations have responsibility for administering their schemes.

"This means that the picture on implementing the remedy across the different schemes is complex and may be subject to particular factors that affect one scheme but not necessarily another," she stated.

However, Reynolds was able to provide some further insight into the progress made so far.

In particular, Reynolds confirmed that, across the police scheme in England and Wales, around 90 per cent of the total number of RSSs have so far been issued, with a similar situation in the police scheme in Scotland, with 97 per cent of deferred choice and over three quarters of immediate choice RSSs already issued.

"Although that is not yet matched by other schemes, significant progress is being made elsewhere," she said.

"For example, the civil service scheme in England and Wales has issued around 45 per cent of immediate choice RSSs and the teachers’ scheme around 47 per cent."

And despite recent delays, Reynolds stressed that "it was always anticipated that providing RSSs to members would be challenging, and that is specifically recognised in the legislation governing the remedy".

"In particular, the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 sets out that for the provision of RSSs, there is a deadline of 31 March 2025, or—here comes the qualification— 'such later day as the scheme manager considers reasonable in all the circumstances in the case of a particular member or a particular class of member'", she explained.

She also reassured individuals that where there is an uplift in interest on pension payments, interest will be paid on arrears, so they will not lose out financially as a result of the delays.

"But I do understand that the delays are frustrating," she added, urging scheme managers to take every step possible to resolve those cases as quickly as possible and to prioritise cases where individuals may be in particular need.

"The government is committed to ensuring that all affected members are provided with the remedy they deserve as quickly as possible, including ensuring that members already in receipt of pension benefits or approaching their retirement are prioritised," she said.

"Where scheme managers have exercised their statutory discretion to extend the deadline for providing some members with an RSS, it is therefore important that appropriate new deadlines are set out and that robust plans are in place to ensure the new deadlines are met."

This approach has already been seen in practice, as the government recently announced a delay in the production of NHS pension scheme RSSs, with its new delivery plan extending this by varying lengths for different members, ranging from three months to 20 months.

In addition to this, however, Reynolds emphasised that scheme managers must ensure that the plans are properly communicated to pension scheme members to provide them with certainty.

"The Pensions Regulator must also be kept informed of plans and progress, and I know that schemes have been having these discussions with the regulator," she said.

Given the concerns over the recent delays, Reynolds confirmed that the Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, has also recently written to responsible departments, requesting details of their plans to issue remaining RSSs and RPSSs to all affected members.

"All those affected by the McCloud remedy can be assured that a robust and complete statutory remedy has been put in place and that schemes are working to ensure that members receive the information and support they need," she added.

This is not the only recent update on the McCloud remedy, as the government has published the latest guidance on the public service pensions remedy newsletter, which covered issues such as event Reports for the tax year 2024 to 2025, and the Public Service Pension Schemes (Rectification of Unlawful Discrimination) (Tax) Regulations 2025, which were laid in parliament in early April 2025.

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