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NHS managers ‘to receive millions in pensions’

By Christian Duffin

Chief executives of some SHAs are to receive annual pension payments of more than £100,000 – at a time that GPs' pensions are under threat, it has been revealed.

Statistics gathered by the Conservative Party from SHA annual reports show that the top managers in each, generally the chief executives, have pension pots of between £1.2 million and £2.59 million.

Then pension of Sir Neil McKay, chief executive of NHS East of England is £2.59 million, which means that he will receive an annual payment of up to £110,000. Sir Ian Carruthers at NHS South West is also likely to receive more than £100,000.

In contrast, the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission: Final Report Lord Hutton recommended that GPs and other public sector staff work longer and make higher contributions to their pension.

Daniel Poulter, Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, who is a former hospital doctor, said: 'It is completely unacceptable that under Labour, senior NHS managers, some of whom were already paid salaries ten times more than hard working nurses, received annual pay increases of around 7% when front-line NHS staff received only 1.8%. The Government is investing £11.5billion in the NHS over this parliament, but we urgently need to curb this kind of excessive spending on management.'

At the LMCs annual conference in London next month a radical motion from Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LMC regarding pensions has been selected for wider debate as part of an agenda committee motion. It flags up industrial action and resignation as two possible responses to the Hutton review proposals, which could see GP pension contributions double and the retirement age rise to 68.