NHS Pensions
This page provides a comprehensive overview of NHS pension topics, including retirement options, scheme updates, and ill health retirement pathways.
Page Contents
Pension Scheme Employer Contributions
Partners Owning Premises and Retirement
Pension Scheme Employer Contributions
The total NHS employer pension contributions rate is 23.7% of pensionable pay, plus a 0.08% administration levy, bringing the total cost to 23.78%. While the rate is 23.7%, employers pay 14.38%, with the remaining 9.4% funded centrally by NHS England.
These rates apply from April 1, 2024, until at least March 31, 2027.
See NHS Pension Scheme – employer contributions | NHS Employers
Retirement Options
- Full retirement
At your Normal Pension Age (NPA)—60 for the 1995 Section, 65 for the 2008 Section, or State Pension Age (SPA) for the 2015 Scheme—you can fully retire, leave your post, stop contributing, and take your pension benefits. If you have 1995/2008 section membership, a lump sum is usually included.
See Applying for your pension | NHSBSA
- Partial retirement
As of October 1, 2023, NHS Pension Scheme members aged 55 or older (or 50 with protected minimum pension age) can take between 20% and 100% of their pension benefits, including 1995 Section benefits, in one or two instalments while continuing to work and build further benefits in the 2015 Scheme.
Partial retirement (drawdown) requires a 10% reduction in pensionable pay for 12 months
Available to members of the 1995, 2008, and 2015 schemes.
- 24-hour retirement
Colleagues planning to take 24-hour retirement should:
- Discuss this option with their financial adviser.
- Contact the NHS Pensions Agency to confirm eligibility and arrangements – particularly if they hold more than one NHS ‘contract’
- All partners must resign their NHS contract for 24 hours. This has important implications for all partners both in terms of their GMS/PMS/APMS contract and their partnership agreement:
- Discuss their plans with their partners (if applicable) and decide on a mutually agreed approach, particularly in terms of financial arrangements that may apply on a return to a partnership
- Some partnership agreements may not include any reference to 24-hour retirement, and even if they do there may not be any provision for the terms of the partner’s return to practice. It is therefore recommended that either Partnership Agreements are amended to take into account the opportunity to take 24-hour retirement, or a legal deed is signed prior to the 24-hour retirement setting out the terms and status under which a GP may return to the practice following their retirement. There is no obligation to make such formal agreements, but there is also no automatic right for a partner (or salaried GP) to be readmitted to a practice under their pre-retirement terms.
- Consider succession planning.
- If a partner of a PMS practice, discuss the variation to the agreement with the commissioner.
- Follow the 24-hour retirement rule and maintain records to document this.
- Plan and start 6 months in advance of the proposed retirement date
- Late Retirement or Retire and Return
Late retirement options in the NHS Pension Scheme allow members to continue working beyond their Normal Pension Age (NPA) to increase their benefits, which are enhanced for late payment. Key options include accruing further benefits up to age 75, utilizing partial retirement (drawdown) to receive benefits while working, or retiring and re-joining
Ill Health Retirement
NHS Pension Scheme members with at least two years of membership who become permanently unable to work due to illness can access two tiers of ill-health retirement, provided they have not reached their Normal Pension Age.
Tier 1 – For those permanently unable to do their current job, enabling early payment of built-up pension with no reduction
Tier 2 – For those permanently unable to do their current job and incapable of any regular employment, offering full pension plus extra service enhancements. If you are an NHS Pension scheme member and have been diagnosed with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of less than 12 months, you can apply to exchange your ill health retirement benefits for a one-off, typically tax-free, serious ill-health lump sum payment.
Annualisation
Annualisation in the NHS Pension Scheme is a mechanism used to determine the correct tiered contribution rate for Practitioners (GPs) who do not work a full pension year (1 April to 31 March). It calculates what their earnings would have been over a full year, potentially placing them in a higher contribution tier.
See The NHS pension scheme as a sessional GP and EOY – Annualisation | PCSE
McCloud Judgement & Remedy
The McCloud remedy removes the age discrimination that was judged to have arisen in public service pension schemes, including the NHS Pension Scheme. The discrimination resulted from allowing older members to remain in the 1995/2008 scheme when the 2015 scheme was introduced on 1 April 2015.
The remedy is made up of two parts:
- All active members of the NHS Pension Scheme joined the 2015 scheme from 1 April 2022, to ensure equal treatment from 1 April 2022 onwards.
- All members affected by the discrimination will be offered a choice about their pension benefits for the period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 to address the unequal treatment that occurred during that time.
Members who have already retired, or who will retire before the new retirement application process is in place, will be asked to make their choice retrospectively, after they have retired. NHS Pensions will contact these members directly and offer them a retrospective choice, along with a remedial service statement (RSS) which contains personalised information to help them make their choice. RSS are being produced and issued in priority order, starting with those for members at the greatest financial detriment
See Understanding the effect of the McCloud remedy period rollback on annual allowance | NHSBSA and McCloud remedy | NHS Employers
Partners Owning Premises and Retirement
A number of GPs own their premises, and it is often wise, therefore, to include in the partnership agreement that; ‘when a partner retires or leaves a partnership, they are obliged to sell their share to the partnership/incoming partners.’
However, we would suggest this is a specialist area and would strongly recommend taking formal advice and check the most up to date Premises Cost Directions.
For most individual pension queries, though we may be able to help with guidance in some instances, we would generally suggest you seek expert, independent financial and or legal advice from an adviser familiar with GP practices and finance.
- BMA guidance on pensions.
Additional Guidance & Resources
- Year-end pension guidance for 2026, PCSE (Primary Care Support England) requires GPs to submit end-of-year pension certificates (Type 1 for partners, Type 2 for salaried) to reconcile contributions. The fastest way to submit is directly through the PCSE online system, which pre-populates data and validates in real-time.
- Queries relating to pensions you need to use the PCSE Online Enquiries Form
- GP Pensions website link – GP Pensions – NHS Primary Care Support
- If submitting pension forms by post, the PCSE address where to send these to, will be dependent on your home address therefore you will need to contact PCSE to confirm it. This can either be done via the online enquiry form or by contacting the Customer Support Centre on 0333 014 2884
- PCSE Guide for GPs and non-GP partners planning to retire – PCSE have worked with key stakeholders to produce a new guide (2022) for GPs and non-GP Partners who are planning to retire or take 24-hour retirement. The NHS Pension Scheme Retirement Guide for GPs and non GP partners, found here, explains the six key steps of the process NHS Pension Scheme members whose pension contributions are administered by PCSE need to follow if they wish to claim NHS Pension retirement benefits. The guide also sets out the timeline for each of the steps in the process and includes some helpful Top Tips. We recommend that GPs and non-GP Partners read the guide in full, 12 months before the date they plan to retire.
Contact details
NHS Business Services Authority (NHS Pensions)
Member Contact Information
- Telephone: 0300 330 1346
- Outside UK: +44 191 283 8918
- Email (Members): nhsbsa.pensionsmember@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
- Postal Address: NHS Pensions, PO Box 683, Unit 5, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE5 9EE
- Online Services: My NHS Pension
Employer Contact Information
- Telephone: 0300 3301 353 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm)
- Email: nhsbsa.pensionsemployers@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
- Pensions Online (POL) Helpdesk: 0300 3301 353 / nhsbsa.polhd@nhs.net
Important note: NHS pensions are complex and subject to change. This page provides general guidance only.
Other Useful Resources
Information for practitioners and non-GP providers | NHSBSA
BMA – The NHS pension scheme as a sessional GP
BMA – Returning to work after retirement
NHS England » Retire and return
Partial retirement employment guidance | NHS Employers
Podcasts:
Planning for Retirement and Pensions – 1st April 2022
Dr Andy Purbrick speaks with Dr Gareth Bryant about planning for retirement and practical advice around pensions.
N.B. After the recording of this podcast, the Lifetime Allowance for pensions has been abolished from 6th April 2023 and the annual allowance increased from £40,000 to £60,000.
Also, the limit on working 16 hours per week only for 4 weeks following 24-hour retirement has also been removed from 1st April 2023.
However, there is still much valuable information in the podcast!
Listen to the podcast here
Pensions – Taking Late Retirement from the NHS 1995 Pension Section
In this podcast, Jan Harley-Doyle from Lifestyle Options explains the importance of practices being aware of the ramifications of staff taking late retirement from the 1995 section of the NHS pension scheme.
Please read the handout and share it with your colleagues to ensure that moving forward, all staff take their 1995 pension at a time that is most financially beneficial to them, taking into account their personal circumstances all the factors mentioned in the podcast.
Listen to the podcast here
GPs – When was the Last Time you Checked your Pension Data?
Pensions are something we often are vaguely aware of in our younger career years and become of more importance and interest as we get closer to retirement. Issues with your pension records may significantly adversely affect your income in retirement. Staggeringly an FOI request by the BMA has revealed that now 56% of GPs have ‘missing years’ of pension data. Dr Krishan Aggarwal (BMA Pension Committee Co-Deputy Chair) explains more and what to do about this in this video . The central message is, please check that your pension data is correct. This will be urgent for those of you nearing retirement. The steps to do this are listed here Guidance for GPs in England on getting your pension record up to date and if you have any concerns about your missing years, complete and submit this form.
GPs – Is your Pension Record Up to Date?
In this podcast, Dr Laura Edwards, Joint CEO at Wessex LMCs, is joined by Dr Edd Rendell, Medical Director, to raise awareness that over half of GPs in England do not have an up-to-date pension record. Hear about clear, step-by step guidance from the BMA about how to get your record updated and why this is important.
Guidance for GPs in England on getting your pension record up to date
Listen to the podcast here