The BMA’s campaign to encourage GPs in England to make sure their pension records are accurate and up to date has just launched, please see webpage here – https://www.bma.org.uk/GPpensionissue

Primary Care Support England (PCSE) is delivered by Capita on behalf of NHS England. Amongst other functions, they are responsible for the administration of pension contributions relating to work undertaken for NHS England in a Primary Care setting that is considered as practitioner for pensions purposes by NHS Pensions.

One of the biggest challenges that GPs in England face is out of date and inaccurate pension records, with “missing years” of pensions data due to PCSE’s mismanagement of pension records. A missing year(s) is where the record of your pensionable pay may be incomplete for a specific year(s) and therefore your NHS pension record will not be up to date. The scale of the problem is likely to mean that a significant proportion, running into the many thousands, are affected.

The BMA’s Pensions Committee meet with Capita, NHS England and NHS Pensions once every two months. We have been consistently highlighting the failures of Capita, and the significant importance of them resolving issues as soon as possible, especially with the upcoming McCloud remedy decisions. GPs should be able to view accurate and up to date information about their pension and the new NHS Pensions “My Pensions Portal” is also not fit for purpose in providing such information.

This is primarily a data issue, and your accrued pension entitlement will be honoured. However, it is important that your actual pension record is correct and up to date to ensure that you can make appropriate decisions about your pension, including around the McCloud remedy, and assessing any annual allowance tax liability. Having an up-to-date record will also enable any pension payments upon retirement to be paid in a timely manner.

A step by step guide to ensure you have accurate pension records is available here.