Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints have been received by NHS Business Services Authority in relation to the removal of the Special Class Status of nurses in each region.

Special Class Status allows an NHS Pension Scheme member to retire from the age of 55 with an unreduced pension, was abolished for all new members from 6 March 1995. Special Class Status continues to apply to 1995 Scheme members with full protection and to 1995 Scheme/2015 Scheme transition members though only in respect of the 1995 Scheme pension benefits.

The NHS Business Services Authority administers the NHS Pension Scheme in England and Wales has confirmed that the requested information is not readily available, and is not held on a regional basis. In order to obtain the requested information, the NHS Business Services Authority would need to manually interrogate all records for members whose employment type includes nurses, then identify those who were afforded Special Class Status. The NHS Business Services Authority would then need to identify members who are no longer afforded Special Class Status and who have made a complaint.