Daily Mail - 07.08.2019

Page  QQQ Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 7, 2019

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By Sophie Borland

and Eleanor Hayward

hospital wards severely under-

staffed and resulting in longer

waiting times for patients,

including for cancer scans.

The Treasury’s review is part

of a major shake-up of doc-

tors’ pension schemes

announced by the Govern-

ment today. This includes

reforms from the Department

of Health which would give

doctors far more flexibility on

the amount they pay into their

pension pots each year.

Currently, doctors have to

put 14 per cent of their sala-

ries into their pensions annu-

ally. But the new system will

enable them to pay in a much

smaller amount and avoid the

tax charges, taking the money

as their salary instead.

Health Secretary Matt Han-

cock said: ‘NHS doctors do

extraordinary, life-saving work

the review will primarily focus

on the impact on doctors and

other public sector employ-

ees. But if they were to over-

haul the system completely,

then all high-earning workers

would be affected, including

those in the private sector.

Only two weeks ago, Mr

Hancock launched a consulta-

tion into doctors’ pensions

which proposed allowing them

to halve the amount they paid

into their pots.

But this was heavily criti-

cised by the British Medical

Association (BMA) and other

health bodies which warned

that this alone would not help

doctors avoid the charges.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, from

the BMA’s council, said: ‘After

a year’s tireless lobbying by

the BMA on the damaging

and perverse effect that this

legislation is having on our

NHS, its doctors and patients,

it is good to see the Govern-

ment finally... taking notice.

The BMA will be glad to work

with the Chancellor and the

Health Secretary to guarantee

changes that will solve the

problem for all doctors.’

every day and they should not

have to worry about the tax

impacts if they choose to go

the extra mile by taking on

additional work to help

patients. These comprehen-

sive proposals will give doc-

tors the pension flexibilities

they have called for and need

to make sure they are

rewarded for extra work.’

The pension taxes – known

as the annual allowance taper

• were introduced by former
  chancellor George Osborne in
  April 2016.
  The rules are extremely com-
  plicated but, in short, anyone
  earning more than £110,000 a
  year will be hit with a tax bill
  depending on how much they
  put into their pension. The
  higher their salary and the
  more they pay into their pen-
  sion, the heftier the tax bill.
  The Treasury stressed that

Clarifications & corrections

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Pension tax rules

review to stop

doctors quitting

ANAESTHETIST Tom Dolphin has seen doz-

ens of operations cancelled because of

the mounting pensions crisis.

The consultant, 40, who works at a hos-

pital in west London, is one of thousands

of doctors to have cut back on their

hours. He has reduced the number of

days he works by about three a month.

Mr Dolphin, who earns about £85,000 a

year, said: ‘As doctors, we want to help

our patients but we are being financially

penalised for doing so.

‘Doing one extra shift can get you a

£5,000 tax bill. The NHS system relies on

doctors working overtime.

‘The issue has come to a head in the

past couple of months and it will only get

worse over winter. We’re starting to see

patients having their operations can-

celled and postponed.’

‘Patients having

ops cancelled’

From the Mail, July 9 August 1

MINISTERS are launching a

review into controversial

pension rules for high earners

which are propelling

thousands of doctors into

early retirement.

They will examine the annual

allowance tax charges which were

introduced three years ago and

affect anyone on salaries of more

than £110,000 a year.

The Treasury has decided to review

the pension rules following warnings

they were penalising GPs and hospi-

tal consultants and encouraging them

to cut back on their shifts.

Growing numbers of doctors in their

50s are choosing to retire altogether

as their take-home pay has been so

substantially reduced by the charges.

And many younger colleagues are

cutting down on their shifts with the

aim of reducing their salaries and

thereby avoiding the tax penalties.

This is leaving GP surgeries and

Forced

to cut

hours:

Tom

Dolphin

40% of GPs

retire or cut

hours over

pension row

Waiting lists

soar as doctors

cut hours in

pensions crisis

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