McLeod Agreement and how it effects me as a widow

sasagnew

My late husband was in the classic pension fund. He was 54 when he died in 2016. As his wife I then received a pension etc under the classic scheme. Looking at the McLeod agreement I can see I am one of the anomalies and although I have tried to understand I am looking for some help. I am not sure if  (when I am hopefully notified at some point) it would be beneficial for me to choose to go into the alpha scheme if I get the choice. As a widow, I was only 49 when my husband suddenly died. The classic scheme he was in says if I remarry or even cohabit my widows pension would cease. I have always felt this was unfair. He worked and paid into his pension from the age of 19. And the only benefit has been to me when he died. It’s not that I’m planning on anything but I would like the individual choice to maybe remarry in the future without losing my widows pension. Had my husband chosen to move to the alpha scheme when he was alive this wouldnt have been an issue as widows pensions are paid for life whatever happens later. So I have accidentally fallen into a more restrictive pension for me as a surviving widow. The only saving grace for me at the time was I could survive on his pension and a part time job as it knocked me for six and for a long time and I couldn’t have worked full time. 

Can I move to the alpha under the McLeod agreement and therefore come under its widows benefits rules? Thus having the option to meet someone else in the future without it causing me potential financial problems. 

sammyjammy

I don't know the detail around your situation and pensions, I imagine its quite complex but the Mcloud agreement only covers the period that Classic ceased to be an option. which was 2015 (if I recall correctly) meaning its only one year of your pension that you could have the choice of, if thats even available to you.

hyubh

The McCloud judgement as applied to the civil service pension scheme concerned members who were moved to Alpha without a choice, in contrast to their older colleagues who were only moved if they chose to (and therefore by default just stayed in Classic or whatever was their existing 'legacy scheme'). As such, your widow's pension is in relation to pensionable service that was not subject to the discrimination the '2015 remedy' is to correct.

I'll be honest, whether members who were not age discriminated against get a 'second shot' at choosing Alpha is not something I'm sure about, especially in the context of a survivor pension that came into payment in 2016. There is however a semi-regular poster to this board who is very knowledgable about the civil service scheme, who I hope will pop up soon.

molerat

There is this from the NI Dept of Finance

https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/articles/mccloud-judgment-and-remedy-faqs-dependant-benefits

which has this

Where an eligible member has died since 1 April 2015, schemes will review these cases as a priority. Where the member retired from the reformed scheme, schemes will seek to revisit cases ahead of the introduction of the DCU where this is possible.

So it looks like all cases will be looked at but priority given to reformed scheme cases.

hugheskevi

sasagnew said:

Can I move to the alpha under the McLeod agreement and therefore come under its widows benefits rules? Thus having the option to meet someone else in the future without it causing me potential financial problems. 

Note it is the McCloud judgment, not McLeod.

Your choice will be to have survivor benefits calculated based on either:

(a) Classic benefits for all of your husband's service (i.e. the current position), or
(b) Classic benefit for service up to 31st March 2015, and alpha benefits thereafter.

If you choose (b), then the service in 2015/16 and 2016/17 as well as the death-in-service enhancement to survivor benefit would be alpha pension, the rest would still be classic pension.

As such, your widow's pension is in relation to pensionable service that was not subject to the discrimination the '2015 remedy' is to correct.

I'll be honest, whether members who were not age discriminated against get a 'second shot' at choosing Alpha is not something I'm sure about, especially in the context of a survivor pension that came into payment in 2016. 

Yes, the choice will work both ways - the McCloud ruling concluded those moved to alpha were discriminated against, but it was not asked to judge whether those remaining in legacy schemes were discriminated against. However, HM Treasury committed to providing the same remedy to these 'reverse McCloud' cases as they are informally referred to, as to the main McCloud cases.