Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the retention of ambulance workers aged fifty and over in the last ten years.

The Government is committed to tackling the workforce crisis across the National Health Service. This will be achieved through better workforce planning, which will address the recruitment and retention challenges facing the NHS.

Valuing and supporting our NHS workforce will be essential in delivering our mission to build an NHS fit for the future and the pay uplifts announced on 29 July 2024 will mean paramedics will see their pay increase by 5.5%, backdated to April 2024.

In the meantime, NHS England continues to lead on a range of initiatives to boost retention, with a strong focus on improving organisational culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities. It is continually reviewing the effectiveness of these and their impact on the workforce.

New retirement flexibilities were introduced in the legacy NHS Pension Scheme last year. These measures are designed to allow older staff to choose to work for longer in a more flexible way, thereby helping to boost capacity, supporting patient care.