Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has provided to NHS trusts in West Dorset constituency on managing staff concerns over Annual Allowance charges.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The annual allowance limits the amount that an individual can save in their pension pot before they have to pay tax. It aims to ensure that the incentives for pension saving, which are costly to the taxpayer, are appropriately targeted across society. Tax policy, including the level of the annual allowance, is a matter for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
From 6 April 2023, the previous administration introduced reforms to the annual allowance, increasing both the standard and tapered annual allowances, allowing National Health Service staff to save more into their pensions each year before facing a tax charge.
Where NHS staff have pension savings that exceed the annual allowance, for example due to unexpected circumstances such as taking on extra hours or additional responsibilities within the NHS, they can carry forward any unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years. This will increase their current year’s allowance, reducing or potentially avoiding any annual allowance tax charge that is due.
Additionally, the NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility which allows impacted members to pay charges using the value of their pension. This spreads the cost of paying a tax charge over the lifetime of the pension rather than requiring an immediate outlay. For most members, the growth in their pension benefits at retirement, even net of a charge, would still represent an excellent return on their pension contributions.
Information for trusts is available on NHS Employers website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/annual-allowance.
Information for members is available on the NHS Pensions website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/annual-allowance.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to review the NHS Pension Annual Allowance rules to prevent excessive charges for staff covering rota gaps.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The annual allowance limits the amount that an individual can save in their pension pot before they have to pay tax. It aims to ensure that the incentives for pension saving, which are costly to the taxpayer, are appropriately targeted across society. Tax policy, including the level of the annual allowance, is a matter for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
From 6 April 2023, the previous administration introduced reforms to the annual allowance, increasing both the standard and tapered annual allowances, allowing National Health Service staff to save more into their pensions each year before facing a tax charge.
Where NHS staff have pension savings that exceed the annual allowance, for example due to unexpected circumstances such as taking on extra hours or additional responsibilities within the NHS, they can carry forward any unused annual allowance from the previous three tax years. This will increase their current year’s allowance, reducing or potentially avoiding any annual allowance tax charge that is due.
Additionally, the NHS Pension Scheme offers a Scheme Pays facility which allows impacted members to pay charges using the value of their pension. This spreads the cost of paying a tax charge over the lifetime of the pension rather than requiring an immediate outlay. For most members, the growth in their pension benefits at retirement, even net of a charge, would still represent an excellent return on their pension contributions.
Information for trusts is available on NHS Employers website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/annual-allowance.
Information for members is available on the NHS Pensions website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/annual-allowance.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of protocols for exchanging medical records electronically between NHS organisations on patients in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ensuring information can be shared between services is essential for safe and effective care. Improving this will enable better informed clinical and care decision-making that is empowered by access to precise and comprehensive information, enhancing the quality and safety of care for patients.
NHS England has been supporting National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in acquiring and developing the effectiveness of their electronic patient records and support is available to bring trusts to an optimum level of digital maturity which will further reduce barriers to the sharing of information needed to treat patients. Further information on electronic patient records for trusts and foundation trusts is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/data-and-clinical-record-sharing/
To ensure continuity of care and to reduce delays in treatment, NHS England is working with NHS Wales on improving the interoperability of services, sharing care records, technical collaboration on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources based messaging standards, and longer-term ambitions for a single patient record.
The Government's 10-Year Health Plan includes the objective of delivering a single patient record. We will be engaging with the devolved administrations on the single patient record, to support appropriate cross-border referrals, and appropriate information sharing to inform good decision-making, support healthcare, and minimise risk to patients.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring electronic medical record systems in NHS England and NHS Wales can exchange patient information more easily.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ensuring information can be shared between services is essential for safe and effective care. Improving this will enable better informed clinical and care decision-making that is empowered by access to precise and comprehensive information, enhancing the quality and safety of care for patients.
NHS England has been supporting National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in acquiring and developing the effectiveness of their electronic patient records and support is available to bring trusts to an optimum level of digital maturity which will further reduce barriers to the sharing of information needed to treat patients. Further information on electronic patient records for trusts and foundation trusts is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/data-and-clinical-record-sharing/
To ensure continuity of care and to reduce delays in treatment, NHS England is working with NHS Wales on improving the interoperability of services, sharing care records, technical collaboration on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources based messaging standards, and longer-term ambitions for a single patient record.
The Government's 10-Year Health Plan includes the objective of delivering a single patient record. We will be engaging with the devolved administrations on the single patient record, to support appropriate cross-border referrals, and appropriate information sharing to inform good decision-making, support healthcare, and minimise risk to patients.