Plan to double doctors’ pension contributions

The government is planning to nearly double consultants’ pension contributions for what is likely to be inferior benefits, official figures reveal.

Consultants, who saw their contributions rise to 8.5% in 2008, could face having to pay 15.5% of salary by 2014-15 according to figures from the government’s Actuarial Department and seen by the BMA.

Even the government’s initial intention to increase overall contributions into the NHS scheme by 3% would hit doctors particularly hard, the BMA warned.

The increase in pension contributions for public sector workers, intended to raise £3.2 billion a year for the Treasury by 2014-15, was announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review in November. This was before publication of Lord Hutton’s review which recommended further changes to public sector pensions, including linking the retirement age to the state pension age, and replacing the final salary scheme with a career average earnings scheme.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chair of BMA council, said: “NHS staff feel that their pension is under attack on several fronts. Doctors are likely to be particularly badly affected, with a threat for many of seeing their contributions double, possibly for a poorer pension, and having worked an extra eight years. This cannot be justified given that the NHS pension scheme underwent a major overhaul only three years ago, and is in very good financial health.”

Meldrum’s letter to Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude questions whether the NHS pension scheme is in need of reform, given that it currently generates a surplus to the Treasury.

It points out that many doctors in their fifties, who are eligible for early retirement, will consider their futures if the NHS pension ceases to be attractive.

The NHS pension was reformed in 2008, with higher earners now contributing more (8.5% of salary) than lower ones (5%).

Read the BMA’s response to the Hutton review.

Tags: Pensions