Doctors slashing hours over pension tax

DOCTORS in Northern Ireland have warned that health services could be put under additional pressure due to unexpected pension tax bills.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said doctors are considering cutting their working hours and even taking early retirement over the issue.

Rules introduced in 2016 penalise consultants if they breach their pension saving allowance.

The changes mean that consultants and other NHS staff earning more than £110,000 a year risk large unexpected tax bills after their income increases. The BMA said doctors were finding themselves in the situation where they were working beyond their contracted hours and being left worse off financially as they are taxed more than they were paid for the work.

BMA surveyed 214 consultants and found that 19% had already cut their working hours in order to address the issue, while 45% intended to reduce their working hours in the next few years.

The survey found that 40% of those intending to reduce their hours will do so by reducing their workload by one day a week and 42% are intending to retire earlier than planned.

Chair of BMA Northern Ireland’s consultant committee Anne Carson said: “This is not avoiding paying taxes, consultants are already taxed on their pay. This is about the punitive tax there is for taking on additional work, for example covering for colleagues, covering maternity leave, taking on management work.

“Nor is this about consultants avoiding or not wanting to address waiting list issues. We are committed to addressing the issues around waiting lists but due to the way the tax system is set up, it essentially means that we would be doing that additional work for free. The consultant workforce is already stretched to the limit and this additional pressure and worry about the possibility of facing a huge unexpected tax bill just adds to this stress. There is a time lag in the provision of pension information here so while only a few doctors here have received a bill, if we follow the pattern of what has happened in England and Scotland the bills will land soon and the average bill could be £18,500.”

Mrs Carson said the tax was “unjustifiable”, particularly as consultants in Northern Ireland are the lowest paid in the UK.

The Department of Health was contacted for a response.