Doctors offered cash by hospitals in effort to tackle pensions crisis

NHS HOSPITALS are offering cash to doctors in an attempt to tackle a growing pensions crisis, an investigation has revealed.

New rules mean GPS and consultants can be hit with tax rates of more than 90 per cent on their earnings, including their pension contributions, if they earn more than £110,000 a year.

It means consultants are substantially cutting back on any overtime or weekend work as they can be taxed thousands for earning a penny over the threshold.

Boris Johnson has promised to “fix” the problem, with the Treasury to review the rules affecting high-earners, and changes to be introduced from next April.

But an investigation by the BMJ reveals that 16 NHS trusts have taken matters into their own hands, amid concern that Government action will come too late to prevent shortages of staff this winter.

Under such schemes, doctors are being offered the chance to opt out of their NHS pension, and instead accept extra cash sums, equivalent to their employer’s pension fund contributions.

Some trusts have now seen up to 40 medics opt out of the pension, the investigation reveals.

But NHS senior managers said med- ics were reluctant to leave the scheme, which is worth far more than the money paid into it.

Surveys suggest more than four in 10 GPS and 3 in 10 consultants have cut their hours because of the pensions rules.

Waiting lists have soared by 50 per cent in three months in some parts of the country because doctors are refusing to work in order to protect their pensions, senior managers have warned.

In one case, a doctor who breached the £110,000 threshold income by just £3 after doing an additional shift, triggered a £13,000 pensions tax charge, even though the extra income was not pensionable.

Northumbria Healthcare Foundation trust, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire trust, North Cumbria University Hospitals trust and Dorset County Hospital Foundation trust are among those offering staff the chance to opt out of the pension scheme.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “In addition to our comprehensive proposals to give doctors the pensions flexibilities they have called for, guidance is being issued to trusts so they can provide flexibilities this tax year, including offering doctors further support and reimbursing staff who opt out of their pension scheme, so doctors can continue to do the job they love.”