Jeremy Hunt’s dramatic resolution of the doctor pension trap crisis failed to satisfy practice leaders yesterday – as they called on him to tackle other problems in the service. Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave no indication of funding to settle pay disputes or to allow improved recruitment into the NHS as part of…

Following on from the informative series, delving into NHS pensions from the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants (AISMA), we have now consolidated all nine parts into a fantastic free guide for you to download and keep. Does thinking about the NHS Pension Scheme give you that sinking feeling? Do you groan every time there’s an update…

Part 9: The McCloud Judgement and what it means for NHS Pension Scheme members In 2015, the government reformed public service pensions, including the NHS Pension Scheme. These reforms generated significant controversy after a Court of Appeal ruling in 2018 (sometimes referred to as the McCloud Judgement) found them to be discriminatory to younger scheme…

Part Eight: Administration for eligible staff On top of the tasks involved in helping partners and salaried GPs meet the NHS Pension Scheme administration requirements, practice managers must also follow the procedures for practice staff who are eligible to be members of the pension scheme. All employers have general responsibilities to auto-enrol their employees into…

Following on from parts one to six, which can be read here, we now discuss administration in part seven: Pension administration is a complex business. As well as the rules that need to be followed for the NHS Pension Scheme, there are contract requirements regarding the calculation of pensionable earnings, annual pension submissions and pension contribution…

Updates post-Budget 2023 Part 5 Lifetime and annual allowance tax charges The lifetime and annual allowance tax charges are a hot topic for GPs. They have been subject to constant changes by recent governments seeking to limit tax relief on pension growth for higher earners. The most recent changes came in the Spring 2023 budget.…

Part 2: How is the pension calculated? The way in which pension benefits are calculated in the NHS Pension Scheme depends on which part(s) members belong to and whether they are ‘practitioner’ or ‘officer’ members. Practitioners GP partners, salaried GPs and locum GPs are all practitioner members of the scheme. Practitioner pensions are based on…