Guidance

Reinstate your pension lifetime allowance protection

If you lost your lifetime allowance protection as a result of the public service pension remedy (also known as McCloud), you may be able to reinstate it.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 22 August 2023

This page is for people who have either:

• lost their lifetime allowance protection as a result of the public service pensions remedy action and want to reinstate it
• have an updated date of loss following the remedy

If you think you’re eligible as a result of the remedy, find out how to apply for lifetime allowance protection.

Who can apply

To be eligible to reinstate your lifetime allowance protection, you must have:

• been a member of a public service pension scheme between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022
• had pensionable service on 31 March 2012
• lost your lifetime allowance protection as a result of the public service pensions remedy
• previously had one of the following:
  • Enhanced Protection
  • Fixed Protection
  • Fixed Protection 2014
  • Fixed Protection 2016

Before you start

To apply to reinstate your lifetime allowance protection, you’ll need:

• the protection reference number of the protection that was lost (you can only request to reinstate one lost protection)
• details of the public service pensions scheme that you’re a member of, including the scheme name and pension scheme tax reference (PSTR)
• the updated date of loss, if the date you previously gave HMRC is no longer correct
• your National Insurance number

Apply to reinstate your lifetime allowance

1. Get all of your information together before you start. You will fill this form in online and you cannot save your progress.

2. Fill in the form to reinstate your lifetime allowance.

3. Print and post the form to HMRC using the postal address shown at the end of the form.

After you’ve applied

We’ll write to you to let you know if your lifetime allowance has been reinstated. The letter might include a new reference number if one was created.

If we send you a new reference number, you must give this to your pension scheme administrator.

If you told us about a new date of loss, we’ll send you a letter to let you know if this has been updated.

Losing your protection

If we reinstate your lifetime allowance protection, you’ll need to meet the conditions from the date the protection was originally started.

You’ll need to check the conditions for losing lifetime allowance protection, depending on what protection you have.

Published 22 August 2023