NHS: Pensions

(asked on 25th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many senior staff left the NHS pension scheme in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) 2019; and how people leaving the scheme affects other members of the scheme.


Answered by
Chris Skidmore Portrait
Chris Skidmore
This question was answered on 3rd September 2019

The NHS Pension Scheme records opt-out data based on staff occupation, for example, doctors or nurses, rather than seniority. It is not possible to identify ‘senior staff’ within the available data.

The following table presents scheme opt-out data provided by the NHS Business Services Authority, who administer the NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales.

Scheme year

Number of active members electing to opt-out from scheme membership

2014-15

39,805

2015-16

35,538

2016-17

47,943

2017-18

44,890*

2018-19

43,309*

Note: *Figures for years 2017-18 and 2018-19 are provisional.

Over the five-year period ending 31 March 2019, there was a total of 211,485 opt-out elections recorded. Due to auto-enrolment legislation the data will include a member who has opted-out twice within the five years.

Where a member elects to opt-out, it has no direct effect on the benefit entitlements of other members.

Reticulating Splines