If you’re a GP locum working in England or Wales and pensioning your work into the NHS pension scheme, the announcement earlier this year that the employer’s contribution was going to rise to 20.68% for 14.38%, together with a draconian change to the annualisation rules and still no progress on death in service, will no doubt have evoked a Merkel eye-roll in even the most battle-worn locums.
The good news, however, is that although the underlying employer contribution rate is increasing to 20.68% with effect from 1st April 2019 (which includes the 0.08% admin levy), employers, including GP surgeries, will continue to pay 14.38% into the NHS Pension Scheme year 2019/20, with NHS and Department of Health and Social Care effectively making up the 6.3% shortfall for year 2019/20 by making direct payment into the NHS pension scheme.
Join the conversation on employer’s contributions in NASGP’s GP-only Facebook Group
Our challenge for 2020/21 now is to avoid the situation when the employer’s contribution was last increased in 2017, when there was confusion around how income for sessions worked prior to 01/04/17 with the previous lower rate of employer contribution attached was then meant to be added to the new April Form Bs using the new higher employer contribution rate… Make any sense? No, but fortunately NASGP’s LocumDeck is fully engineered to handle all these vagaries.