With CCGs in England set to become statutory organisations in April 2013, together with phasing out PCTs, there has been a lack of clarity around who’ll be administering the NHS superannuation scheme from then.
We’ve been in contact with our sources at NHS Pensions on the specific question of the administration of the scheme for GP locums. And the news is not good.
It is our understanding at NHS Pensions that, subject to Ministerial and Parliamentary approval, with effect from 1 April 2013 the commissioning GP Practice will be liable to pay freelance GP Locum NHSPS employer contributions.
This is not only a surprise to us, but also to our friends at the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee (GPC) who confirmed last night that they too hadn’t been informed of this new situation, and will find out more.
So, what now?
We have written to our sources at the Dept of Health for further clarification:
- Who will bear the net cost of these employer’s contributions – will it be the employing practice?
- Or will it be that practices are simply doing the administration for this, with the funds still coming centrally?
- In either case, will the practice then be deducting the employer’s contribution at source?
- How would AVCs and additional pension be collected/paid?
- Would we need form Bs anymore?
- Say a practice manager uses 10 locums in a month – would they then have to write separate employer contributions payments, or add this in their usual payment to their locums?
We’ll update you here as soon we’ve heard more.
What do you think of these changes? Please add your comments below.