More than half of GPs in England are missing vital information about their pensions, making planning their workloads impossible and negatively impacting their mental and emotional wellbeing, new figures show.
A freedom of information request from the BMA to NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA)1 revealed that 18,575 GPs in England had missing pensions records, representing 56% of GPs in the country who should have had their records fully updated to 2022/23, with 156,896 years of pension data missing in total.
The impact of GPs being unable to access accurate and up-to-date pension data means it is impossible to plan for retirement and assess their immediate pension tax position. This makes planning their workloads incredibly difficult – and crucially in many cases will prevent GPs from taking on additional work for fear of being caught out by punitive pension taxation bills in the future.
At a time when demand is outstripping staff in general practice, this is an absurd situation, the BMA says.
The BMA blames failures by both NHSBSA and Primary Care Support England2 (PCSE) for not ensuring pension records are kept up-to-date.
Meanwhile a recent survey3 from the BMA found that of almost 500 GP respondents, 4 in 10 said failures by PCSE to update their pension record was causing them to experience mental or emotional health problems, while a third said this was having a negative impact on their performance at work.
NHS Pensions are legally obliged to provide GPs in England with an annual benefit statement for their pension, but are failing to do so.
Meanwhile GPs are supposed to be able to access all of their pension records online via NHSBSA’s My NHS Pension portal, but the BMA says the program is not fit for purpose.
The BMA is demanding that NHS England personally contacts those GPs who are missing records and works with them to rectify the situation.
The BMA also says that NHSBSA must urgently fix issues with the portal, so that GPs can access their information directly and prevent problems in future.
BMA pensions committee deputy chair and GP pensions lead Dr Krishan Aggarwal said:
“For years we’ve been hearing from colleagues who are having difficulty accessing the right information about their pensions, and now these figures show the sheer scale of the problem.
“The fact that more than half of GPs in England are missing pension data is a scandal. At a time when patients need more GPs working in practices, it is absurd that GPs are unable to make informed decisions about their work commitments and may be prevented from offering themselves up for more sessions.
“In addition to the impact of this on practice capacity is the toll it takes on individual GPs who are struggling through the complex and frustrating pension system on top of what is an incredibly stressful and highly-pressured job.
“It’s imperative that the Government and NHS England get a grip on this and put measures into place to ensure GPs can access up-to-date pension information so that family doctors can focus on what they want to be doing – caring for patients in their practices – rather than dealing with the chaos of a pension system that is not even serving its most basic function.”
Ends
Notes to editors
The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.
- Read the NHSBSA FOI-02629 response here
- Primary Care Support England (PCSE) is responsible for the administration of pension contributions relating to work undertaken for NHS England in a Primary Care setting that is considered as practitioner for pensions purposes by NHS Pensions. PCSE’s responsibility is delivered by Capita, currently on behalf of NHS England.
- The survey was open to BMA members currently working in the UK as consultants, SAS doctors and GPs. The survey ran from Tuesday, 18th February to Wednesday, 26th February. 5,172 doctors responded. 76% of respondents (3,914) were consultants. 18% (907) were GPs. 7% (351) were SAS doctors.
Survey results:
NHS GPs in England respondents (n = 475)
Results may exceed 100%, as respondents could select as many “yes” responses as applicable; the other responses were mutually exclusive.
Do you consider that you are currently suffering from depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, emotional distress or any other mental health conditions relating to or made worse by the impact of any of the below pensions concerns?
Yes – related to tapered AA – 23% (109)
Yes – related to delayed/incorrect documentation provided by scheme administrator – 31% (145)
Yes – related to PCSE failures to update my pension record (GPs in England) – 43% (206)
Yes – related to further detrimental pension tax reforms in future speculation – 35% (164)
Yes – related to my lack of understanding of pensions in general – 20% (93)
No – 38% (180)
Don’t know – 2% (9)
Prefer not to say – 2% (9)
Do you consider that worry or uncertainty at about any of the below pensions concerns have negatively affected your performance at work?
Yes – related to tapered AA – 20% (95)
Yes – related to delayed/incorrect documentation provided by scheme administrator – 24% (112)
Yes – related to PCSE failures to update my pension record (GPs in England) – 33% (155)
Yes – related to further detrimental pension tax reforms in future speculation – 25% (121)
Yes – related to my lack of understanding of pensions in general – 14% (67)
No – 44% (211)
Don’t know – 4% (20)
Prefer not to say – 3% (12)
4. The BMA has produced a step-by-step guide to ensure GPs have accurate pension records, including reporting how to escalate complaints to the Pensions Ombudsman and Pensions Regulator.