No Christmas cheer for homeless people

Clinicians’ pension crisis

AS the cold nights of winter draw in it becomes more apparent how important home is to us all.

While most of the country will be getting ready to celebrate with loved ones and looking forward to a home cooked Christmas dinner, there will be thousands of people facing the struggle of having nowhere safe to call home.

Many of us will have noticed the rising number of people sleeping on the streets where we live or work.

But what we don’t see is that for every person on our streets there are another twelve families or individuals stuck in hostels, on sofas and in unsafe and insecure accommodation.

No one should be forced to live, or spend Christmas, this way.

That’s why – outside of our year-round services – Crisis In Merseyside is running activities for our members in

NHS England and NHS Improvement has announced that clinicians’ pension tax liabilities for 2019/20 will be reimbursed

A year ago, the Government and the NHS buried their heads in the sand over the crisis that was coming, a crisis that’s now here, caused by punitive pension taxation charges.

The BMA has lobbied tirelessly to bring about reform of pension taxation; we remain strong in our view that the definitive solution is for a new Government to scrap the annual allowance in defined benefit pension schemes as soon as possible.

This temporary one year scheme announced by NHS England and NHS Improvement is a clear and unequivocal sign of the depth of the crisis the NHS faces this winter, and provides further evidence that pension taxation reform is needed as a matter of urgency.

Our members, and indeed all affected health professionals, quite rightly need to understand the detail of today’s decision by NHS England and NHS Improvement to reimburse clinicians’ pension tax liabilities for 2019-20.

This move seems to promise to ensure pensions for eligible doctors won’t be reduced at the point of retirement.

However, when for many, retirement could be 30 plus years hence, the offer needs to be absolutely guaranteed contractually and legally in respect of both the payment and its’ longevity, particularly when substantial additional pension tax penalties can be incurred by taking on additional work.

A much simpler solution would be for the government to write off these punitive liabilities for this year allowing time for tax reform.

December, providing people experiencing homelessness with a range of activities from visits to the seaside to tours of museums. But we don’t stop there. Our year-round training includes education and support with housing, employment and wellbeing.

This long-term support helps people to rebuild their lives and leave homelessness behind for good.

But we can’t do it alone. We’re asking members of the public to help support our work this Christmas and yearround – so we can be there for everyone who needs us.

So, please help reserve a place for someone at a Crisis Christmas centre, you’ll be helping to make someone’s wish to end their homelessness a reality.

To find out more or to donate to Crisis this Christmas please visit https://www.crisis.org.uk/christmas

Patients are already facing severe delays in receiving routine and emergency care and staff are working under ever increasing pressure. It’s more important than ever that a new Government agrees a comprehensive solution for taxation reform, preferably on the December 13, that works for all affected healthcare staff, including Armed Forces medical staff, GPs and others in primary and community care.