BMA accuses Chancellor of imposing ‘an unfair tax on doctors’
THE BUDGET.
BMA accuses Chancellor of imposing ‘An unfair tax on doctors’
Freezing the lifetime allowance for pensions is a tax which will disproportionally affect doctors, the BMA warned today.
Many doctors with NHS jobs now plan to leave or reduce their hours, it claims.
Dr Vishal Sharma © BMA
BMA pensions committee chairman Dr Vishal Sharma said: ‘Today’s move by the Chancellor is nothing short of a punitive tax on our hardworking doctors and it is simply unacceptable.
‘The BMA has repeatedly called on the Government to find a way of mitigating against large pension taxation bills for doctors to avoid them having to leave the NHS and deprive our health services of thousands of hours of skilled care.
‘Only last week, the Government announced a solution to this problem for judges, so the BMA is calling for them to do the same for doctors, with almost half of doctors saying they would retire later and work more hours if this was introduced.’
Freezing the pension lifetime allowance, he warned, was creating the perfect storm – forcing doctors to make some very tough decisions such as working less hours or leaving the NHS long before they would naturally retire.
‘If they don’t, they will face huge pension taxation bills because the NHS Pension Scheme is not flexible enough to allow doctors to vary and manage their contributions. They simply cannot keep working and face huge pension tax bills as a result.’
A BMA members’ pre-Budget survey of more than 8,000 doctors found 72% of responders, to the question ‘If the level of the lifetime allowance is frozen in this year’s Budget, what impact if any will this make on your plans around retirement?’, said they were more likely to retire early.
Doctors were also asked ‘If the level of the lifetime allowance is frozen in this year’s Budget, what impact if any will this make on any plans you might have around changing your working patterns?’
61% said they’d be more likely to work fewer hours or work part time.