The Government claims changes to NHS pension such as removing the 16-hour-a-week rule will allow more retirement flexibility, Pulse reports.
Consultation authors announced several changes to be enacted from next month:
- Respondents widely welcomed the proposal to permanently remove the 16-hour rule. The department therefore intends to implement this as planned from 1 April 2023.
- The department intends to implement partial retirement from 1 October 2023.
- The department intends to introduce pensionable re-employment prospectively, which means that pensioner members of the 1995 Section will be able to join the 2015 Scheme for future accrual.
The CEO of NHS Employers has now called for AA to be scrapped in the public sector.
In January Dr Tony Goldstone asked colleagues to ‘take a few minutes to respond to the Department of Health and Social Care’s consultation launched in December 2022. “They are trying to steal your pension, whilst pretending they are fixing a problem,” he warned.
Changes were announced in the wake of the news that a new GP contract had been imposed on GP partners and practices, with some experts predicting a devastating impact on general practice and patients. Full details of the contract haven’t yet been released.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “The timing of this news is interesting, and feels like pieces on a chessboard are starting to move, with demands from central government aiming to improve patient satisfaction, whilst at the same time making some welcome compromises on NHS pension.
“I have no doubt the picture will evolve with more pieces being played on both sides, with the message from GPs being extremely clear that we need more hurdles to be removed to allow us to get on with the day job.”