Who is affected?
All new members of staff who join the NHS from 1st April 2015 and who are eligible, will join the 2015 scheme.
BUT WHAT ABOUT EXISTING MEMBERS OF THE SCHEME?
All existing staff will have to join the new scheme unless they were covered by the ‘Protection’ arrangements outlined below:
- FULL PROTECTION – Members of the 1995/2008 Scheme who, as at 1 April 2012, were either already over their Normal Pension Age (NPA) or 10 years or less from their NPA and in active membership on both 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2015
Remember if you still hold ‘Special Status’ (in the main this is longer serving nurses, physiotherapists and doctors holding mental health officer status) then your Normal Pension Age (NPA/NRA) is 55
- TAPERED PROTECTION – Members of the 1995/2008 Scheme who, as at 1 April 2012, were more than 10 years, but less than 13 years and 5 months from their NPA and in active membership on both 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2015 are eligible for limited protection
To see if you are affected and if so, click this link.
- DEFERRED ‘POTENTIAL’ PROTECTION – Those not in active membership of the 1995/2008 Scheme on both 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2015 may still qualify for Protection provided they re-join the Scheme after a break of less than 5 years.
It is important to note that if you transfer to the New Scheme then your membership of the previous scheme (1995/2008) is preserved. That means it will not be transferred in to the New Scheme but will retain all its terms and benefits of the old scheme. In effect you will have multiple pots of NHS pension that have different benefits and rules.
In most cases those affected either wholly or partially by the new scheme will need to review their retirement plans and as such we recommend that you speak to one of our advisors to discuss this.