Yesterday NHS England offered to “top-up” pensions on retirement of doctors facing huge tax bills as a result of the ill-thought out taper and annual allowance.
However, this is of little comfort to our consultant members, who are telling us this latest half-baked scheme will not be enough to convince them to take up extra sessions over the winter.
DAUK was quoted in The Guardian:
“This latest announcement – at best a stopgap – smacks of an electioneering gambit to deflect criticism of the Conservative party, who are solely responsible for this crisis. Given this government’s history on pensions reform, and its leader’s perceived casual relationship with the truth, we cannot recommend to members and colleagues that they deplete their pension pots on a hurried promise they’ll be topped up one day in the future. Doctors should continue to take steps to reduce their commitments where necessary to avoid punitive tax bills,”.
We will continue to lobby this government to scrap the taper entirely for doctors, which we have consistently said is the only solution which will see doctors taking on overtime.
We all also continue to press all political parties for a firm commitment to scrapping the taper as part of their manifesto.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/22/nhs-england-pledges-pensions-top-up-in-bid-to-tackle-staffing-crisis
