The BMA is supporting its members affected by the McCloud pension age discrimination in lodging an injury to feelings claim. The Government were found to have acted unlawfully when they introduced the 2015 pension scheme and this has resulted in significant stress, anxiety and financial detriment for many of our members. We believe that you deserve compensation for this.
Injury to feelings claims
An injury to feelings claim is a claim for compensation for the upset, distress or anxiety that you have suffered as a result of discrimination. Members have reported such injury arising in a number of ways, including being made to feel humiliated by additional tax demands when colleagues have not received the same, being bullied by older colleagues who were not affected by the same issue, and anxiety or distress caused by the financial consequences of the changes, such as making financial decisions they would not otherwise had need to.
There is no doubt that many members have been adversely impacted. As well as facing the same discrimination as other groups of public sector workers, younger members that were discriminated against by being moved to the 2015 scheme in 2015 have suffered further injury in terms of being treated more harshly in respect to pension taxation as a result. Furthermore, they have been left with the added uncertainty about the level of their pension savings and the stress and anxiety of having to navigate the complexities of reassessing their pension and tax position for the years of the remedy period.
BMA’s group legal claim
This process is fully funded and supported by the BMA
We have instructed an external law firm, Capital Law (with the support of Carson McDowell in Northern Ireland), to act for and represent members in these claims, so that members do not need to issue their own individual claims.
Further detail of the level of representation and its terms and conditions has been provided to members who have registered to be included in this group action.
Capital Law has been sending communications to those who are part of the group claim and has issued surveys to collect information that the Tribunal has requested in England & Wales (and we expect the devolved nations will follow so are collecting information for members across the four nations). It is important to note that these surveys are mandatory, and you must continue to engage with Capital Law throughout the process to remain in the group claim.
If you do not respond to these surveys by the set deadlines, then unfortunately, Capital Law and Carson McDowell can no longer represent you and will take action to remove you from the group claim.
At this stage in the legal process, we are unable to take on any new claimants on the basis that the claims have now been filed with the Tribunal in each respective jurisdiction.
You must also remain a member of the BMA throughout the duration of the claim to stay in the process, otherwise you will become ineligible. It is of note that cancelling your membership and re-joining part-way through the claim will not make you re-eligible to participate in this claim.
We expect that the hearing date for these claims will be sometime in late 2026.
If you have any questions regarding this group claim, please contact [email protected].
Your questions answered
As the Tribunal requests additional information you will be contacted to provide this and it is important that you respond to any new survey, within the required timeframe. It is possible that such surveys may result in several reminders, particularly if you completed the survey with a different email address to that used to register your interest in the claim. If records show that no survey has been completed using your registration email, you will continue to receive reminders (despite having already completed the survey with an alternative email address).
If you are in doubt as to whether we have received your completed survey, please get in touch via email.
This information has been ordered by the Tribunal.
Yes, BDA members are eligible to participate in this claim. However, if you did not initially register your interest to participate and in turn, failed to complete our subsequent surveys, we are unable to retrospectively include you as a claimant in these proceedings.
We encourage you to make a note of this for inclusion against the appropriate question in your survey response. So as to avoid the risk of double recovery, any losses, and/or costs that you have claimed through alternative means cannot be included in this claim.
We advise that you seek specific tax advice on this point.
Generally speaking, awards for injury to feelings can be made tax-free. However, this is dependent on an individual’s tax position and/or personal circumstances.
Ongoing BMA support in this action is dependent on active BMA membership that is sustained throughout the duration of the litigation process.
If you are not a BMA member and/or you cancel your BMA membership part-way through the claim, you will be in breach of the BMA indemnity (a copy of which was shared with all claimants on 29 April 2024). This means that support and funding of your claim will be revoked, and Capital Law and/or Carson McDowell will come off the record as acting for you.
We will need your consent to be withdrawn from the claim if you cease to be a member. We therefore encourage you to inform us if you are no longer a BMA member, so that we can take steps to withdraw you from this claim or provide advice on how you can continue to pursue the claim yourself, but without the benefit of BMA support.
Failure to inform us that your BMA membership has ended, but you continue to benefit from BMA support, may result in costs being brought against you. If you do not provide consent to be withdrawn from the claim, having ceased BMA membership, you will be responsible for responding to Tribunal questions, and will be considered to be representing yourself unless you notify the Tribunal of alternative representation.
This is fine. The jurisdiction in which your claim has been brought is based on the NHS pension scheme you were a member of immediately prior to 1 April 2012, as opposed to where you live.
We will be periodically updating claimants as the litigation progresses. However, if you have any specific queries, please contact us on [email protected]