Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial consequences for senior medical consultants in the Armed Forces of the combined effect of annual non-voluntary contributions which the military requires to be made to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme and current limits on annual and lifetime allowances for tax-free pension contributions.

The Armed Forces Pension Schemes are non-contributory, defined benefit, final salary or career average schemes. They remain the only public-sector schemes that do not require their members to contribute to their future pension, and reflect the unique sacrifice the Armed Forces and their families make to this country. The Government has no plans to alter the schemes.

Annual and lifetime allowance limits have reduced. Consequently, more senior officers are breaching their annual and lifetime allowances and incurring a tax charge. Options are available to these individuals to mitigate a tax charge, including using unclaimed tax allowance from previous years or asking their pension scheme to pay the charge out of future benefits. The Department is keeping the impact on retention of the changes under review.