NASGP appeal for Death in Service for NHS GP locums

29th March 2020 by NASGP

NASGP appeal for Death in Service for NHS GP locums

Shortly after the NASGP was founded back in 1997, its first achievement was to secure the NHS pension scheme for all GP locums in the UK. Thanks to the NASGP, thousands of GP locums go to work every day with the assurance of contributing to a highly regarded work pension scheme.

But the NHS GP Locum Scheme does have a few flaws. Very recently, new annualisation rules have resulted in many locums paying contributions at the highest rate, for no extra benefit. The other flaw is longstanding, lack of Death-in-Service benefits; unless the locum literally dies whilst actually locuming in a practice, their grieving family has to prove that a), they’d intended to pension that work and b), prove they were somehow still ‘in service’. This could mean their surviving family could lose out on some hundreds of thousands of pounds of benefits.

In a recent survey of NASGP members, 25% said lack of NHS Pension Death-in-Service benefits has reduced the number of sessions they’ll work during this pandemic, with similar numbers citing the high chance of losing income through lack of sick pay.

So NASGP is looking at a solution to integrate into our LocumDeck T&Cs and booking confirmation process, working with legal experts, to explore a way to enable the dependents of a GP locum who dies during this pandemic to receive the NHS GP locum pension benefits that they’re entitled to, but we need to raise at least £5,000 to cover these costs.

LocumDeck is free to NASGP members, and provides our solution for a fair and balanced way for GPs and practices to connect with each other.

We think we have a good case, although there’s no guarantee of success, and if we have any funds left over from this Go Fund Me campaign, we will use them to explore extending this beyond the pandemic.

We are a small community, and your generous donation is hugely appreciated.

"I started working as a locum GP in January this year and NASGP have been invaluable in helping to co-ordinate my bookings and organise all the administrative aspects of sessional work which can be complex and time consuming. Their client support is outstanding and they have always resolved any queries promptly and personally. They care about the service they provide and I would not hesitate to recommend them to any sessional GPs who want to minimise time spent on administration and focus on providing patients with high quality care."

Dr Paul Riley, GP

Dr Paul Riley, GP

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