Today NHS Employers have released a consultation document on the future of the NHS Pension Scheme. The government have said it will "meet the needs of a modern NHS and its staff, by making benefits more appropriate for today's workforce" UNISON say it will "make it more difficult to recruit and retain staff." while Amicus is proposing a Day of Action, whatever that is.
Ploughing through the 124 page document will take a bit of time, but here's my first impressions
The Government also say it's not about saving money, but that's not true. Currently most staff have a 20% contribution, 6% from themselves and 14% from the employer and it costs 19.6% to supply the pension benefits (I assume the remaining 0.4% is used for adminstration). NHS Employers estimate that the new proposals will cost 18.2% for existing members and 16.9% for new members.
Improving the accrual rate to 60ths from 80ths is an obvious benefit, offset by the raise in the normal retirement age from 60 to 65. That's the big issue as far as I'm concerned. There's a bit on page 30 of the consultation about retiring at 60 making your pension actuarily reduced. They suggest the figure of 27% for retiring at 60, with an increase of 35% for retiring at 70. 73% of an 60th isn't a great deal different from an 80th, but the catch seems to be that the acturial adjustment could vary. The thing I like about the current NHS pension scheme is that you know what you're getting so can plan properly, so I hope that will be fixed.
There are some very positive parts of the proposals. Extending spouse benefits to unmarried partners is an overdue step, allowing people to carry on extending retirement benefits is also warmly welcomed. All in all, it's not a bad set of proposals, it can be improved but it's a good start.
No comments:
Post a Comment