The Scottish Government's handling of the McCloud pensions scandal has led to a privacy law breach, according to the UK's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This ruling comes as a result of retired police superintendent Martin Gallagher's complaint, which was partially upheld by the Scottish Government. The ICO found that the Scottish Government failed to comply with UK data protection law by wrongly identifying Mr. Gallagher as the lead campaigner behind the long-running fight over the McCloud pensions scandal and sharing his identity with other complainants.
The scandal stems from the landmark McCloud judgment handed down in 2018, when judges ruled that changes made to public sector pension schemes in 2015 unlawfully discriminated against younger workers. The reforms had allowed older staff to remain in more generous legacy pension schemes while forcing many younger workers into new arrangements with different benefits. Judges found the transitional protections amounted to unlawful age discrimination.
As a result, every affected public sector pension scheme across Scotland — including those covering NHS staff, teachers, police officers, firefighters and local government workers — has had to recalculate pensions and provide remedy statements setting out compensation or revised benefits. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has responsibility for administering much of that work.
However, the agency has repeatedly failed to meet legal deadlines for issuing remedy statements. Official figures previously released by the Scottish Government showed that, of around 215,000 people due to receive remedy statements, only about 59,000 had been issued by the statutory deadline of March 31. The delays have left many pensioners unable to make retirement decisions or receive money they believe they are owed, while compensation costs continue to rise because interest accrues on outstanding payments.
The Scottish Government has previously estimated the overall cost of correcting the discrimination across Scotland's public sector pension schemes at around £1.7 billion. The handling of those delays is already the subject of separate complaints being examined by the Pensions Ombudsman.
Mr. Gallagher argues that his personal details were disclosed without his knowledge or consent, and that the Scottish Government's actions were maladministration. He says, 'My experience throughout this sorry business has been awful and is mirrored by hundreds of others. When is someone in a position of authority going to take action?'
The ICO's ruling comes against the backdrop of one of the biggest pension correction exercises ever undertaken in Scotland. It highlights the need for transparency and accountability in government handling of sensitive personal data, especially in the context of large-scale public service scandals.
