What's new in NHS Pension Planning
6-point financial checklist for doctors and dentists
For doctors and dentists working in the NHS, change is an increasingly common (if not constant!) occurrence, from changing contracts…
Navigate and understand your NHS Total Reward Statement
As NHS professionals you should all be aware you have online access to your NHS Total Reward Statement. However, have…
How an NHS car lease may impact your pension
At first glance, a car lease through NHS Fleet Services can look like an attractive offer. As an NHS professional…
Are your annual allowance figures higher than expected?
Have you received a higher than expected annual allowance for the 2020/21 tax year? I have been approached by a…
Retiring early? How this decision affects your NHS pension
What age is classed as early retirement? Once upon a time, there was only one NHS pension scheme and this…
Has the NHS pension scheme finally equalised death benefits?
It seems unbelievable that in the past not all partners or ‘significant others’ were viewed equally by the NHS pension…
Scheme pays deadline extended plus NHS pension scheme updates
Legal & Medical, along with other top NHS Specialist IFA’s and Accountancy firms were recently invited to an audience with…
Is the NHS Pension Scheme still good value for money?
You’d be forgiven for wondering if your NHS pension scheme is still good value for money. With tiered contributions as…
Is your pension pot smaller than your colleagues or partner?
If you just answered yes to that question, chances are you are female. There are many great aspects about a…
Who gets your NHS pension benefits when you die?
Most NHS pension scheme members focus on the retirement fund that comes with their pension. But did you know that…
Should I fear the lifetime allowance?
The Chancellor’s decision to freeze the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) at £1,073,100 (for 2020/21), in the recent budget is causing our…
3 big NHS pension scheme changes you need to know
Keeping up to date with NHS pension scheme changes can be challenging and tedious at the best of times, let…
Why knowing your NHS pension section matters
Knowing which section of your NHS pension scheme you are a member of is important; 1995, 2008 or the 2015…
Are you eligible for the NHS pension annual allowance charge compensation?
Do the words “threshold income”, “adjusted income”, “tapered allowance” & “scheme pays” sound familiar? For those clinicians who recognise this…
How to reduce your NHS pension retirement age
In today’s world many doctors and dentists are working extremely long hours, often under very stressful circumstances so it comes…
Annual Allowance: Who’s requested their updated NHS pension statement?
We regularly remind doctors and dentists how important it is to keep an eye on their annual pension allowance, yet…
Why and how to keep an eye on your NHS Pension
The halcyon days when you could join the NHS Pension Scheme and not look at it until your 60th birthday…
Removal of age discrimination – The knock-on effect to your NHS pension
Just when you thought your NHS pension scheme couldn’t get much more complicated there are now more pension decisions to…
NHS pension annual allowance: Scheme pays deadline extended
I’m afraid I’m not writing to tell you I can make your annual allowance tax liability disappear, but I do…
Are you due a ‘second bite lump sum’ of your NHS pension?
Not a term you have heard of before? I’m not surprised. It’s a term given to an additional pension payment…
More annual allowance issues within the NHS pension scheme
As if life isn’t complicated enough for our NHS doctors and dentists at the moment. To add to your trials,…
NHS Death in Service: Emergency measures for staff returning to the frontline
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the NHS has launched one of its biggest recruitment programmes in history. Prompting many medics…
The future of the NHS pension scheme
Are you an NHS doctor with annual allowance concerns? Recent pension legislation changes have caused some unintended consequences regarding our NHS…
Paying your unexpected pension tax bill: Your options
Confused about how much you’re allowed to contribute to your pension and what to do if you’ve been hit with…
Is the NHS pension scheme too generous?
Who would have thought an NHS pension scheme could be too generous? When transferring your 1995 NHS pension scheme to…
The NHS Death in Service benefits’ facelift
Have you sorted out who would benefit from your death? Bringing up the subject of your death and who will…
Stop and think before you leave the NHS Pension Scheme
NHS staff are leaving the NHS Pension Scheme at almost 5 times the rate of other public sector workers¹. Are…
Are NHS medics being penalised for working part-time?
What doctor or dentist doesn’t find the better, more varied work/life balance of part-time working enticing? Of course one of…
How to know if you’re facing an unexpected tax bill?
Like many doctors and dentists, you may have already started to think about your next tax return, but have you…
Clinical Excellence Awards changes, your pay and pension
The warnings that changes to Clinical Excellence Awards (CEAs) were afoot have come true. A new local Clinical Excellence Award…
The powerful pension options medics now have
How doctors and dentists view and use their pensions has changed since ‘Pension Freedoms’ came into being in March 2015….
GP locums: Will you get your death in service benefit?
Locums are becoming a vital part of increasingly pressurised general practices, yet the NHS benefits they’re entitled to are not…
3 reasons to have a pension pot over the allowed limit
From the 6th April 2018, doctors and dentists who have more than £1,030,000¹ in their pension pot are very likely…
Who gets paid more: a doctor or a dentist?
From a purely monetary perspective, have you ever thought “would I have been better off training as a doctor or…
An important NHS Pension deadline looms
The deadline to elect for NHS Pensions’ Scheme Pays is only a few weeks away. If you miss it, you…
NHS Pension Scheme starts charging for information!
With the recent changes to both the lifetime and annual pension allowances, it’s imperative that medics of all ages get…
Lifetime ISA: What’s in it for me?
The Chancellor’s Budget U-turn on pension tax relief changes wasn’t the only surprise he had up his sleeve; he also…
Is this a crystal ball for your NHS Pension?
Whilst the Budget 2016 didn’t rock the pensions’ world with any new announcements, there are already enough significant changes coming…
How much is ‘enough’ to stop working?
Apparently we’re living longer but not necessarily enjoying good health in old age. Pension schemes, including the NHS Pension Scheme,…
2015 NHS Pension: 5 details you need to know
On the 1st April 2015, 75%* of existing NHS employees and all new NHS Pension members will join the new…
Will your NHS Pension income be enough to live on in retirement?
Over the last few years, the NHS has been working through major changes to the NHS Pension Scheme. The Government has also implemented some of the biggest reforms to pensions in decades.
As a result, key considerations for doctors and dentists in the NHS Pension Scheme include:
- How does the new reduced annual and lifetime allowance affect you?
- How can you leverage the new pension legislation in your financial plans?
- Is retiring at age 60 a pipe dream or reality for doctors and dentists?
- Is the NHS Pension Scheme still good value?
Medics who joined the NHS Pension Scheme after 1 April 2008 will have different benefits and a different age at which normal retirement can be taken to those who joined the scheme before this date.
How we can help you
With our extensive experience in dealing with the NHS Pension Scheme, your L&M financial adviser can provide you with a comprehensive review of your NHS pension which will include:
- A projection of your benefits incorporating factors specific to doctors and dentists that change the impact of the forecast;
- Ensuring that your service history is correct – a critical factor as the pension is, at present, invariably based on your length of service;
- Strategies to increase your pension provision either within the NHS or outside, or a combination of the two;
- Strategies should you wish to take early retirement, increase your tax free lump sum or make additional voluntary contributions to your NHS pension.
Get in touch to find out more