15 March 2023
If you are covering the changes to the Annual Allowance and the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance and how it will impact the NHS, please see the following comment from Graham Crossley, NHS pension expert at Quilter:
"Increasing the Annual Allowance and abolishing the lifetime allowance altogether will be welcome news for many healthcare workers who have been forced to reduce their hours or retire early.
"Our own analysis of HMRC data and Freedom of Information data revealed how much of a thorny issue the current Annual Allowance is for the NHS. We found that at least 34% of all people who exceeded the Annual Allowance (AA) in 2019/2020 were members of the NHS pension scheme.
"These figures illustrate how badly medical professionals are targeted by Annual Allowance tax rules compared to other professions and it is commendable that there has been some positive movement in this area.
"The NHS has played a critical role for the nation over the past few years during the pandemic and its only right that the government changed these unfair rules and eased its significant retention problems and stem the flow of doctors leaving the NHS in their droves and actively encourages those who retired to return and those who reduced their hours to take on more work.
"The changes to Annual Allowance and the abolition of the LTA tie in nicely with some of the changes already tabled in relation to the NHS Pension Scheme and will see many lifted out of eye-watering annual allowance charges and no longer have to worry about the LTA at all."
