Request

Attached is a previous FoI response [Ref: 11726] that was provided to me in April 2021. Could you now provide me with updated tables on the same basis as before but this time for the intervening years, namely (i) 2020/21, (ii) 2021/22, (iii) 2022/23 and if possible (iv) 2023/24? For reference: FOI-11726 ‘FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 1. Attached is a response provided to a Parliamentary Written Question. Could you please provide me with an updated response that shows the relevant figures for GPs taking early retirement but for the (i) 2017/18, (ii)2018/19 and (iii) 2019/20 financial year. 2. For each of the last five financial years that you have data for how many people receiving an NHS pension were in receipt of (a) £50,000 or more, (b) £75,000 or more or (c) £100,000 or more annually from their NHS pension.

Note: The figure should be calculated before any deductions are made and should NOT include lump sum payments.’

On 22 March 2021 you clarified the following:

‘If possible could you please run the calculations for before the pension might have been reduced due to the person opting to take a greater lump sum payment.’

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Question 1: Members are counted as a GP if they have any medical GP pensionable service; they may have other non-GP service and may not be claiming their pension directly from a GP employment.

The attached data shows only awards that were claimed from the 1995 or 2008 Sections; any awards claimed from 2015 Scheme have not been included, as well as any concurrent, non-ARER (Actuarial Reduced Early Retirement) awards, as these have not been requested. Awards are grouped based on the Scheme year (1 April to 31 March) in which the award was payable; this isn’t necessarily the same year in which it was applied for or implemented.

The exclusion of 2015 awards is because they are not part of the request and have been ignored for the purposes of the request, which is limited to the 1995 Section and the 2008 Section.

Concurrent non-ARER awards are excluded because the member may have an actuarially reduced early retirement (ARER) award which has been counted in the 2008 Section for the years in question but may also have an age award in the 1995 Section which has been ignored for the purposes of the request.

Question 2: Gross pension prior to commutation is assessed; in the event a member has claimed multiple awards (or the award has been split into multiple elements) in the same Scheme year, the gross pension value is summed into a single figure per Scheme year. Members may be counted in multiple Scheme years, if they have claimed multiple awards at different times. Members will be counted in each bracket they are eligible to be counted in, i.e. a member in receipt of more than £100k, is automatically in receipt of a pension greater than £50k and £75k, so would be counted in all three groups.

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02435

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data. Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025” Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.