When the government made changes to public service pension schemes in 2015, scheme protection allowed some members who were closer to retirement to stay in the section of the Scheme they were in on 31 March 2015.
Members either had full or tapered protection.
You qualified for full protection if you were an active member on 1 April 2012 and you were:
- less than 10 years away from your Normal Pension Age (NPA)
- over your NPA
If you had full protection, you did not have to move to the 2015 Scheme until 1 April 2022. This also happened if you rejoined after a break of 5 years or more.
You qualified for tapered protection if you were an active member on 1 April 2012 and were more than 10 years but less than 13 years and 5 months away from your NPA.
If you were deferred on 1 April 2012, you must not have had a break in NHS pensionable membership of 5 years or more.
If you had tapered protection, you did not move to the 2015 Scheme on 1 April 2015. You joined at a date based on your age in years and months on 1 April 2012.
The Court of Appeal later found this discriminated against younger members.
The government is removing this age discrimination from public service pension schemes.
Read more information about the Public Service Pension Remedy on our website.
The 1995/2008 Scheme closed on 31 March 2022 and the remaining active members transferred to the 2015 Scheme so all members were treated equally.
From 1 April 2022, all active members regardless of age became members of the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme.