diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_alpha.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_alpha.go
index 598f1e336d3..db31a9e74c4 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_alpha.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_alpha.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ const (
 	//
 	// alpha: v1.8 (for Services)
 	AlphaFeatureNetworkTiers = "NetworkTiers"
+	AlphaFeatureILBSubsets   = "ILBSubsets"
 )
 
 // AlphaFeatureGate contains a mapping of alpha features to whether they are enabled
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_loadbalancer_internal.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_loadbalancer_internal.go
index 89182a1716c..f6e1b1642ab 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_loadbalancer_internal.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/gce/gce_loadbalancer_internal.go
@@ -36,9 +36,13 @@ const (
 	allInstances = "ALL"
 )
 
+func (g *Cloud) usesSubsets() bool {
+       return g.AlphaFeatureGate != nil && g.AlphaFeatureGate.Enabled(AlphaFeatureILBSubsets)
+ }
+
 func (g *Cloud) ensureInternalLoadBalancer(clusterName, clusterID string, svc *v1.Service, existingFwdRule *compute.ForwardingRule, nodes []*v1.Node) (*v1.LoadBalancerStatus, error) {
-	if g.AlphaFeatureGate.Enabled("ILBSubsets") {
-		return nil, cloudprovider.NotImplemented
+	if g.usesSubsets() {
+		return nil, cloudprovider.ImplementedElsewhere
 	}
 
 	nm := types.NamespacedName{Name: svc.Name, Namespace: svc.Namespace}
@@ -206,8 +210,8 @@ func (g *Cloud) clearPreviousInternalResources(svc *v1.Service, loadBalancerName
 // updateInternalLoadBalancer is called when the list of nodes has changed. Therefore, only the instance groups
 // and possibly the backend service need to be updated.
 func (g *Cloud) updateInternalLoadBalancer(clusterName, clusterID string, svc *v1.Service, nodes []*v1.Node) error {
-	if g.AlphaFeatureGate.Enabled("ILBSubsets") {
-		return cloudprovider.NotImplemented
+	if g.usesSubsets() {
+		return cloudprovider.ImplementedElsewhere
 	}
 	g.sharedResourceLock.Lock()
 	defer g.sharedResourceLock.Unlock()