National Health Service: Pensions Tax

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

As I said in an earlier answer, we are expecting the consultation proposals to be implemented in April. However, I reassure the noble Baroness that these proposals would also apply to clinicians working in the Armed Forces and in medical schools, provided they are in the NHS pension scheme. I hope she find that encouraging.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con)]

My Lords, this is not just a problem for the NHS; it applies across the public sector—to senior people in the police, the fire service, the Army and elsewhere. It is a problem of the Government’s making. It was the Government who put a limit on the size of people’s pension pots and this is the unintended consequence. We are losing the most experienced, dedicated people. It is a false economy. My noble friend answers for the Government as a whole, not just on the health service, and it is not good enough to say that the Treasury is considering this matter. It has been brought up time and again, and it is time for the Treasury to admit that it made a mistake that is costing the public service dear.

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

As usual, my noble friend speaks with alacrity and force. It has been made quite clear by the Treasury that it will look at the impact on front-line services across the system and not just in the NHS. I am of course speaking for the Department of Health and Social Care, but where sensible evidence is brought forward by other services, it will be looked at by the Treasury in its review.