BMA urges Chancellor to fix tax trap on pensions
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s priority now must be to rapidly remedy the pension taxation trap, according to the leader of the BMA.
Chairman of council Prof Philip Banfield predicted this would make a material difference in retaining expert and experienced clinical staff.
He said: ‘We urge him to get round the table with us, reform what he said was the national scandal of staff being forced to leave the NHS because of pension arrangements and fix doctors’ pay.’
Mr Hunt is due to make his Autumn statement on 17 November when he is expected to announce plans for further changes to Liz Truss’s blueprint for easing the tax take on high earners.
Prof Banfield said Mr Hunt’s role as chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee made him fully aware that the Government must urgently address ‘absurd pension taxation rules and consistent real-term reductions in pay which are driving staff out of the NHS’.