The BMA has launched an interactive tool to let GPs see how the Government's proposed pension raid will hit them.
The BMA's online pensions calculator allows GPs to input their age, planned retirement age and pension scheme to receive a forecast on how the coalition Government's pension reforms will impact them. Click here to access the calculator.
Last week the BMA revealed that the Government's 'assault' on GP pensions means GPs face paying up to £230,000 in extra pensions contributions over their career.
Research by the BMA highlighted the extent of the raid on GP pensions. The triple whammy faced by GPs includes being hit by:
- Demands for up to £230,000 in extra pensions contributions over the course of their career, in plans tabled by the Government.
- Up to £125,000 being eroded from GP retirement funds due to the Government's decision, made in April, to shift from the use of the retail price index to the lower consumer price index to uplift NHS pensions.
- Receiving £20,000 less in their GP pension under a ‘new look' scheme based on Lord Hutton's recommendations for pension reforms – expected to form the basis of a set of detailed Government pension reforms in Autumn
Earlier this month, in an exclusive interview with Pulse, Dr Andrew Dearden, chair of the BMA's pensions committee and a GP in Cardiff, attacked the Government for refusing to negotiate on the hike in GP contributions.
At the time Dr Dearden called on every GP to use a DH consultation on pension contributions to vent their anger about the coalition's pensions plans. The DH consultation is technically restricted to discussions about how the pensions hike should be implemented, but the BMA is urging doctors to ignore the consultation boundaries.
Dr Dearden, who warned that the BMA is seeing growing numbers of doctors indicating they could leave the pension scheme, said: ‘The Government has to understand that doctors are thinking about, and are starting to, leave the pension scheme.'
'If tens of thousands of doctors write to them and express their anger and concerns, they might just think twice about these proposals.'
Click here to access the calculator.
