London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Ministers act to end NHS pensions row amid waiting list rise

Ministers act to end NHS pensions row amid waiting list rise

The government has come up with new proposals for England and Wales to end the row with doctors over pensions. Doctors had started refusing to do overtime shifts because they were being landed with bills after changes to the amount that can be accrued tax-free.

Just weeks after ruling out reviewing the rules, ministers now say they will.

A consultation launched by Theresa May's government offering to introduce more pension flexibility is also being replaced by more radical solutions.

The previous consultation was only published on 22 July.

But it was reassessed following the appointment as prime minister of Boris Johnson, who had promised to address the issue during the Tory leadership contest.

The pensions row has been linked to a rise in waiting times for routine surgery caused by medics refusing to work beyond their planned hours.


What is being proposed?

The government said it would now be putting forward a plan to allow doctors complete flexibility when it comes to scaling down their pension contributions to avoid breaching the annual tax-free allowance.

The allowance has been reduced from £255,000 a year in 2010-11 to £40,000 - and drops still further for the highest earners.

This tends to affect those earning more than £110,000, around a third of senior doctors and GPs

Previously the government had said it favoured a 50:50 option whereby public sector staff could forsake half the amount paid into their pension.

But now ministers have said they will publish a consultation in the coming weeks which favours giving public sector staff the ability to reduce contributions to zero.

It will also allow doctors to be given the contributions the employer would have made, meaning their pay packets could be boosted by thousands of pounds a year.

Meanwhile, the Treasury has agreed to look at how public sector workers are taxed on their pensions to see if the rules can be relaxed.

Some doctors have reported being landed with huge unexpected tax bills.

What happens next?

The plans will be set out in a consultation published during the summer with a view to introducing them from April.

But to help relieve the problems immediately, the government is also promising to allow doctors to opt out from the pension scheme for this financial year.

Again, guidance will be published in the coming weeks.

The government hopes this will relieve the pressure on hospitals, which have reported waiting lists are lengthening because doctors are refusing extra shifts.

It will be up to Scotland and Northern Ireland to decide whether to make similar changes, although the way pensions work in those parts of the UK is slightly different anyway.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "NHS doctors do extraordinary life-saving work every day - they should not have to worry about the tax impacts if they choose to go the extra mile by taking on additional work to help patients."

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association, said: "We acknowledge this step forward by the government."

"After tireless lobbying on the damaging effect that perverse and ill-thought out tax legislation is having on our NHS, its doctors and patients, it is good to see the government finally sitting up and taking notice and proposing action."

But Sara Gorton from the union Unison said: "Introducing measures to help only a small proportion of the millions of active NHS scheme members looks alarmingly like the beginning of a 'clinicians-first' approach to pension strategy."

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the pension changes had undermined the ability of the NHS to provide care to patients and ministers still need to do more to address existing staff shortages.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×