Request

I am writing to request information from you under the FOI act.

The questions I would like to ask are about NHS pensions.

The first question I would like to ask is: does the GMC or NMC, or their associated bodies for the devolved nations, inform the NHSBSA with regards to the employee’s pension, if a NHS pension scheme member is struck off from their profession.

Could I ask you, at this current time, how many members are being paid a pension under the NHS pension scheme, that have either been a) struck off by the GMC, b) struck off by the NMC.

Secondary to this, what is the total amount per year, that a) pension scheme members who have been struck off by the GMC, b) struck off by the NMC, are receiving in payments.

Thirdly, what is the biggest annual payment that an NHS pension scheme member who has been struck off is currently receiving in payments.

Finally, for each of the past six tax years, or a similar timeframe if this is not doable, how many NHS pension scheme members has the NHSBSA blocked from receiving a pension as a result of them being struck off by their relevant professional body.

Response

Question 1 –

The first question I would like to ask is: does the GMC or NMC, or their associated bodies for the devolved nations, inform the NHSBSA with regards to the employee’s pension, if a NHS pension scheme member is struck off from their profession.

Please be advised that this is a general query, rather than a request for recorded information held by the NHSBSA and consequently, falls outside of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

However, in the spirit of openness and transparency, we can confirm that neither the GMC nor the NMC inform us if one of their members is struck off.

Question 2, 3 and 4

Could I ask you, at this current time, how many members are being paid a pension under the NHS pension scheme, that have either been a) struck off by the GMC, b) struck off by the NMC.

Secondary to this, what is the total amount per year, that a) pension scheme members who have been struck off by the GMC, b) struck off by the NMC, are receiving in payments.

Thirdly, what is the biggest annual payment that an NHS pension scheme member who has been struck off is currently receiving in payments.

We cannot confirm or deny that the NHSBSA holds the requested information, as by doing so, we estimate that the cost of compliance with the request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA.

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.

Please be advised that as per our response to question one above as we don’t routinely record this information as it is not required for the administration of the NHS Pension Scheme and would therefore require manual review of each pensioner in payment record.

Please see the following calculations which set out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:

There were 1,254,794 pensioners in payment for 2023/2024.

We reasonably estimate it would take around 5 minutes at a minimum and 30 minutes at a maximum per pensioner in payment record. This is due to each record potentially having a varied number of documents contained within it, depending on the history and complexity of the case.

Our minimum reasonable estimate is:

5 minutes x 1,254,794 records = 104,566 hours

Our maximum reasonable estimate is:

30 minutes x 1,254,794 records = 627,397 hours

As such these fall outside of the appropriate time limit of 18 hours as set out above.

Please be advised that due to the way in which records are held, the scope of your request cannot be narrowed to fall within the appropriate limit as set out in our response.

Question 5 –

Finally, for each of the past six tax years, or a similar timeframe if this is not doable, how many NHS pension scheme members has the NHSBSA blocked from receiving a pension as a result of them being struck off by their relevant professional body.

Please be advised that this information is not routinely captured by the NHSBSA.

The NHSBSA administers the NHS Pension Scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care in England and Wales. In this circumstance, the NHS Pensions Service would be instructed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), not the GMC or NMC.

As, this information is not routinely captured, to confirm whether the requested information is held would require manual review of each pension in payment record as per the calculations set out in response to questions 2 to 4 above. As a result, , the requested information is exempt from disclosure under section 12 of the FOIA 2000.