An estimated four million appointments were lost after one in four GPs reduced the number of sessions they worked due to punitive pension taxation, Pulse reports.
The findings emerged as a result of a BMA survey of more than 5,000 doctors, including 907 GPs, about how taxes on the tapered annual allowance (AA) were affecting doctors’ decisions about how much to work.
The annual allowance is the amount of pension savings a GP can make before paying tax.
GPs whose adjusted income is over £260,000 are subject to ‘tapered’ annual allowance. Under tapered AA, when a GP earns over £260,000 their annual allowance goes down by £1 for every £2 earned over £260,000 to a minimum of £10,000.
High-earning GPs ‘are effectively paying to work’, the BMA told journalists in one briefing.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “GPs affected by this are likely in a very small minority, especially in the current climate, and we are grateful to the BMA for sounding the alarm over this punitive measure against them.
“We back the BMA’s recommendations for remedies to this complex and underreported issue.”
