Latest news with #NHSBSA
Telegraph
7 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Taxpayers on the hook for ‘multi-million pound' bill after NHS pension delays
Taxpayers are on the hook for a multi-million pound bill after new delays to NHS pensions, an expert has warned. Pensioners have already waited months for vital paperwork to tell them how much they should be receiving, but many could now be due compensation for underpayments following a series of missed deadlines. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) was required to send 382,000 pension statements by March 31, but ministers had to announce a new timetable after just 21 were actually issued. Health minister, Karin Smyth, has now confirmed that another set of extensions is required after just 1,338 more statements were sent over the next three months. This has left more than 380,000 statements outstanding, despite the allocation of extra staff. She also confirmed that the Government would add 8pc interest to any underpayments, which Alec Collie of advisors Wesleyan, said 'could run into the millions'. Shadow health minister, Dr Luke Evans, warned the failure had 'real consequences', and said NHS patients had been left to pay for Labour's choices. The problems stem from the 2015 changes to public sector pensions, including the NHS scheme, amid fears they had become unaffordable. Workers were moved away from gold-plated final salary pensions and into schemes based on their average earnings. However, the implementation was ruled to be age discriminatory following legal action from members of the judges' and firefighters' schemes. As a result, retirees were offered a choice between both schemes for their service between 2015 and 2022 under the so-called 'McCloud Remedy', which was already expected to cost taxpayers £17bn. Those affected should receive a remediable service statement, which outlines the choice between both schemes, and gives them 12 months to decide. The original delivery date of March 31 was set out in legislation, but Ms Smyth has repeatedly appeared in the House of Commons to confirm that numerous deadlines had been missed. As a result, the retirees affected won't know the true amount of their pension until their statement arrives, and many could be receiving less than they're entitled to. Any funds owed will be back paid with an additional 8pc in interest – around double the current interest rate. Mr Collie said: 'These situations won't just need to be remedied by the Government – the 8pc interest will also need to be paid. 'We can't say for sure how much it's going to cost in total because the circumstances will be so unique to each person. But what's for sure is that the nature of the McCloud process means this is likely to roll on for many years to come – it's not going to be a 'one and done' settlement.' Ms Smyth said that she had met NHSBSA's chief executive, Michael Brodie, to express her disappointment, and ordered an independent review from Lisa Tennent, who serves as independent chair of the NHS Pension Board. The disarray comes amid repeated delays to remediable pension service statements, which outline how much staff may have actually paid into their pension once McCloud changes are taken into account. The statements help doctors, who often also work privately, to track their income and avoid a tax charge by exceeding the annual £60,000 limit on contributions. Just £1 of additional income can generate a £22,500 tax bill in some circumstances. The NHSBSA was supposed to send 137,000 statements to staff by October 6 last year, but at least 34,000 were still outstanding by June 2. It admitted that the true figure was not available because the data was still being collated. Experts have already warned that doctors are turning down work to avoid potential tax bills, with knock-on effects for frontline care. Dr Evans said the Government was continuing to miss legal and self-imposed deadlines, leaving patients to pay the price. He said: 'Labour admit that their plan is failing, but offer no serious way to resolve it. 'This failure has real consequences. Senior doctors are turning down extra work for fear of unexpected tax bills running into thousands. Vague promises and talk of 'conversations with the board' won't cut it. 'As a result of Labour's choices, patients will pay the price – especially if senior doctors won't step in during strikes. 'Labour must urgently set out a clear delivery plan to resolve both delays and hold the NHSBSA to account. With a summer of strikes looming, the complacency from Labour is both telling and dangerous.' An NHSBSA spokesman said: 'We appreciate that this news will be disappointing for NHS Pension Scheme members affected by the McCloud Remedy. 'We apologise for the delays and assure our members that we are working hard to deliver remediable saving statements as quickly as possible.'
The Guardian
16-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I was fined despite paying for an NHS prescription
Last Christmas I was prescribed antibiotics for a post-operative infection. The pharmacy assistant insisted, despite my questioning, that I was exempt from prescription charges. Two weeks later I returned with another prescription, and was told that they had made a mistake and I was liable for charges after all. I paid the outstanding fee on the spot. I have since received a letter from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) stating that I will be fined for non-payment of the original prescription. I have provided evidence of payment, and my pharmacist has written to it confirming the error, but the NHSBSA says both are inadmissible. Reviewers reporting a similar experience on Trustpilot compare NHSBSA's intransigence to the Post Office's behaviour during the Horizon scandal, and I have to agree. LM, Leamington Spa The number of blameless people fined by the NHSBSA for non-payment is a scandal that I exposed and have covered repeatedly. They include new mothers and cancer patients who are entitled to free prescriptions but who, due to an oversight by medical staff, were not registered for an exemption certificate. The NHSBSA, which checks patient exemptions on behalf of the NHS, insisted that, because you didn't pay the charge on the day you collected the prescription, you were liable for a fine, which is five times the prescription fee plus the original charge. It reversed at speed when I got in touch and, hours later, informed you that you were in the clear. Its statement implies it repented its intransigence unprompted. 'Following investigation, we recognise that, in this case, the patient realised the error and acted quickly to correct the issue before receiving an inquiry letter from the NHSBSA. We have therefore been able to close the case and remove the penalty charge in this instance,' it says. We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
I was fined despite paying for an NHS prescription
Last Christmas I was prescribed antibiotics for a post-operative infection. The pharmacy assistant insisted, despite my questioning, that I was exempt from prescription charges. Two weeks later I returned with another prescription, and was told that they had made a mistake and I was liable for charges after all. I paid the outstanding fee on the spot. I have since received a letter from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) stating that I will be fined for non-payment of the original prescription. I have provided evidence of payment, and my pharmacist has written to it confirming the error, but the NHSBSA says both are inadmissible. Reviewers reporting a similar experience on Trustpilot compare NHSBSA's intransigence to the Post Office's behaviour during the Horizon scandal, and I have to agree. LM, Leamington Spa The number of blameless people fined by the NHSBSA for non-payment is a scandal that I exposed and have covered repeatedly. They include new mothers and cancer patients who are entitled to free prescriptions but who, due to an oversight by medical staff, were not registered for an exemption certificate. The NHSBSA, which checks patient exemptions on behalf of the NHS, insisted that, because you didn't pay the charge on the day you collected the prescription, you were liable for a fine, which is five times the prescription fee plus the original charge. It reversed at speed when I got in touch and, hours later, informed you that you were in the clear. Its statement implies it repented its intransigence unprompted. 'Following investigation, we recognise that, in this case, the patient realised the error and acted quickly to correct the issue before receiving an inquiry letter from the NHSBSA. We have therefore been able to close the case and remove the penalty charge in this instance,' it says. We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions. Sign in to access your portfolio
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Retired NHS workers on six-figure pensions reaches record high
The number of retired NHS workers picking up six-figure pensions has reached a record high after increasing tenfold in the last decade. More than 3,000 former health service employees are being paid an annual pension of more than £100,000, up by 64pc compared with a year ago. Campaigners are now calling on Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, to overhaul the 'unfunded and gold-plated' NHS pension scheme. The latest figures from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) show the cost of its pensions is now at £12bn per year, with 1.1m former staff qualifying for the retirement payments. It means there are 47,267 former NHS staff being paid pensions worth more than £50,000 per year, up by 15pc from last year. Of those, 3,126 are picking up more than £100,000 this year. Last year, the figure stood at 1,909. A decade ago, the number of former NHS staff with a pension of £50,000 per year or more was just 19,886 and the number getting £100,000 or more was limited to just 285 people. In the private sector a person would need on average a pension pot of around £3m in order to be able to settle down with an inflation linked six-figure pension income. Government officials said part of the reason for the rapid rise in the numbers of people with the biggest pensions may be linked to higher inflation. This is because the pensions are index-linked, meaning the higher the inflation, the more the amount of pension increases the following year. Higher earning employees within the NHS – typically GPs and consultants – have to contribute 12.5pc of their earnings to be included in the pension scheme. But for NHS pensions there is no pool of contributions building up over time. The payments are made up from the salary deductions from people currently working in the NHS as well as additional payments to top the scheme up from central government. Critics of the NHS retirement scheme say its generosity creates a financial time bomb with 2.5m members expecting a pension from it in the future. John O'Connell, the chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, a campaign group, said: 'There is now an extraordinary elite of NHS retirees who rake in massive pension payments every year, not paid out of retirement pots but instead out of the pockets of working taxpayers. 'That's because NHS employees, like in much of the public sector, get access to gold-plated and unfunded defined benefit schemes which are now almost absent in the private sector. 'As part of his plan to radically reform the NHS Wes Streeting should move all new staff onto fully-funded, defined contribution schemes.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'The NHS Pension Scheme provides generous retirement benefits for hard-working staff after a lifetime of service, and the scheme was comprehensively reformed in 2015 to ensure the costs are sustainable. 'Staff and employers are required to pay contributions that meet the full cost of the benefits being built up, with higher earners paying proportionately more than other members.'
