Pension crisis is hurting the NHS

I APOLOGISE for returning to what many readers will regard as a dry and somewhat selfserving subject, but the NHS faces a massive skills shortage due to a pensions crisis that no one seems to be talking about.

Policy changes by successive governments on annual and lifetime limits on pension savings mean that 200,000 conscientious savers in Britain are too late to avoid pension tax bills of up to 55 pc when they retire.

At least a million people face the same problem, and a high proportion work in the NHS.

A new analysis of the crisis finds that salaries between £60,000 and £90,000 — the pay bracket for many doctors, specialist nurses, psychologists and managers — are enough to take people over the lifetime threshold of £1.03 million.

One 57-year-old consultant ophthalmologist has spoken of his shock at receiving a £110,000 tax bill in January this year for exceeding the limit.

Not surprisingly, the situation has already sparked an exodus from the NHS of those older and more experienced staff who are reaching the pensions saving threshold. If they stay on, they will be severely penalised financially — in effect, they will be working for nothing.

The BMA is calling on the Treasury to act — but, given the Brexit mayhem, don’t hold your breath.