Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Please can you provide me with information regarding the amount of money paid to members in interest payments when awards have not been processed within the 30 day payment time?

Please provide this information or the last five years broken down by month. If possible separate this into interest paid for late lump sum payments and interest paid for late pension award payments.’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 23 September 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Our 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.

All values within the data are presented in Great British Pound (GBP).

We are unable to split the data into interest paid for late lump sum payments and interest paid for late pension award payments. This is because interest on late payments is automatically calculated when due on pension and lump sum and is paid as a combined payment. These are not held as separate values.

Interest is paid at the Bank of England Base Rate details of which can be found at the following link: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate.

As of 13 October 2025, 80% of new pension claims are completed within the 30-day target. Where payments are made after 30 days, on average they are currently being paid 12 calendar days late. Some cases may take longer.

NHS Pensions processes each retirement application on a case by case basis to ensure pension payments are accurate and reflect each member’s personal circumstances. This means that some cases may take longer than others. Where a payment is likely to take longer than 30 days, NHS Pensions are contacting members to keep them updated.

The number of people retiring and the benefits being paid to dependants has increased year-on-year. In 2024/25 there were 42,606 retirements and this compares with 31,984 the year before. This represents a 24% increase. The data is available here: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/information-about-nhs-pensions/nhs-pension-scheme-accounts-and-valuation-reports. Each annual report has the number of active, deferred and retiring members per year.

Please see the web link below for further information on late payments.

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/current-processing-times-nhs-pensions

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.