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 effect of the pensions annual allowance tax on the availability of NHS consultants.

The Department recognises that the annual allowance may contribute to decisions from National Health Service consultants to retire early or limit their NHS commitments. We are also listening carefully to concerns raised by senior doctors and NHS employers about the impact of the tapered annual allowance.

In listening to concerns, the Department has sought to make available to NHS Pension Scheme members all possible flexibility under Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs legislation and the current fiscal framework for public sector pension schemes. The scope of the voluntary ‘Scheme Pays’ facility, implemented by the NHS Pension Scheme to allow scheme members to pay annual allowance charges from the value of their pension benefits rather than upfront, has been extended to cover the payment of tax charges from breaches of the tapered annual allowance.

The Government keeps the impact of public sector pay and pensions policies under constant review.