Some of our work

Public service pension reform

Requirement

In 2015, the Government reformed the majority of public service pension schemes. Scheme changes, however, did not apply to older members who remained in their original schemes. This was found to be discriminatory against younger members. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) required specialist programme management, consulting and advisory services to support the implementation of the McCloud Programme to rectify any discrimination faced by eligible members of the NHS Pension Scheme (NHSPS).The NHSPS is the largest centrally administrated contributory pension scheme in Europe and it is estimated that 1.1 million members will be eligible for McCloud rectification. Due to its scale and complexity, implementing the McCloud judgement presents one of the greatest delivery challenges since the NHSPS’ inception.

Delivery

A robust PPM function was essential to ensure successful programme delivery, governance and oversight for the varied stakeholder groups impacted. Acuity has provided and continues to provide a portfolio of business management, consulting and advisory services to achieve this.This includes:

  • Establishing and maintaining the governance structure for the DHSC McCloud Programme, including managing programme and project-level plans, progress reports and risk logs
  • Regular interaction with the Treasury (HMT) and other public service pension schemes at the HMT Project Management Working Group to identify and manage interdependencies between the HMT policy definition process and programme delivery
  • Working with HMT and other public service pension schemes to create a suite of Provision Definition Documents that can be shared with scheme administrators to ensure consistent application of policy across schemes
  • Working with the NHSPS scheme administrator and the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to identify the potential volume of affected members and provide in-depth analysis to understand the potential financial impact of remedial activities on each member. Acuity’s analysis also helped the NHSBSA understand the impact of McCloud on its BAU workload and any resulting resource requirements
  • Working with DHSC, HM Treasury and HMRC representatives to agree the operating model of a Compensation Scheme that aims to provide members affected by the McCloud ruling with compensation for any direct financial loss incurred
  • Leading on all communications and engagement activities ensuring that all such activities are behavioural insight led
  • Overseeing the delivery of a range of other pension scheme changes that aim to resolve NHS Workforce challenges. This has included the introduction of Flexible Retirement arrangements and revisions to Member Contribution rates
  • Producing the Programme’s Business Case (PBC), managing its approval and providing a series of updates as final costs are confirmed.
  • Undertaking the following activities on a programme-wide basis:
    - Benefits management
    - Financial management
    - Lessons learned
  • Managing the programme’s liaison with DHSC’s Delivery Assurance Co-ordination function including undertaking preparations for and manging the outcomes of a series of Gateway Reviews.
Result

Acuity has established a robust and financially justified programme which enables stakeholder collaboration and partnership working across delivery organisations,governance bodies and NHS trade unions. This provides high delivery confidence for an extremely high profile and politically sensitive programme.