Record numbers retire on £1 million NHS pension pots

• 8,500 retired NHS staff have retirement benefits worth £1 million
• Total bill of £8.5 billion

The bill for public sector pensions is of growing concern for taxpayers facing huge bills for underfunded and over-generous pensions. In December 2007, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) revealed that there are almost 3,700 retired civil servants with retirement benefits worth £1 million. In the second paper of our public sector pensions series, we look at the generosity of pension arrangements in the NHS in England and Wales.

Using information obtained from the NHS Business Services Authority Pensions Division, TPA researchers have calculated the extent of the taxpayers' pension commitments. The findings are shocking:

• There are almost 8,500 retired NHS employees (including GPs) in England and Wales with retirement benefits worth £1 million.
• The total value of these retirement benefits is almost £8.5 billion (up to £337 per household)

Download £1 Million NHS pensions (PDF)

Corin Taylor, Research Director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

"Unfunded public sector pension liabilities are reaching completely unsustainable levels. Every household will have to pay up to £40,000 over the next few decades to fund gold-plated retirement benefits for public sector employees, including £1 million pension pots for the NHS elite. Urgent change is needed to reduce the bill to taxpayers – for a start, the pension age for existing public sector employees should be raised to the state pension age as soon as possible.”

The figures, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request, have been scrutinised and approved by Terry Arthur, Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute.

Comments

[One marcus]

Lets not run away with this one. I work in the public sector work very hard for the public good doing long hours and get paid far less than in the private sector, the only benefit is the pension. I'm not going to get a £1 million pension pot when I retire. If you take away the pension increase my wages, so that I can pay my mortgage without getting into massive debt.

[cc]

Finally someone has published this article showing how some well paid nhs staff do exceptionally well with the pension.
Whats more is that a consultant can do a part time post for the final years, and have this pro rata-ed up to full time when calculating a final salary.
e,g, doctor does 37 years for nhs, then 3 years consulatancy part time (8 hrs per week £25,000 per year)
the pension will be calculated at £125000p.a, full time equiv final salary.

pension will then be - if taken at 60
40/80 * 125k =66k per year
plus lump sum of 66*3=200k

its a scandal, just another way the country is going down the pan under a left wing government who have lost control

[AD Blyth]

My understanding of the Pensions Act 2004 is that Company pension funds are required, by law, to carry out regular valuations of their funds in accordance with Scheme Specific Valuation requirements. The Company is required, where a shortfall of future liablities is identified, to submit the valuation, along with a recovery plan, to the Pensions Regulator. Presumably the Pensions Regulator will satisfy himself as to the adequacy of the provisions of the plan prior to expressing approval.
The Company is required, again by law, to include details of any relevent costs , provisions, reserves etc within its Annual Report & Accounts and balnce its books accordingly.
Surely the same requirements should apply to central and local governments along with other public sector bodies such as NHS Trusts.
Is Government there just to make laws, not to obey them ?
I suspect there is not a single one of these bodies that would be able to produce a balanced budget if pension liabilities were included. So, is it legal ?

[LPJ]

What a load misleading crap.
Its time we had a Government that stood up to the crap rightwing in this country. Allways remember that public sector workers choose to pay for their own pensions whilst they are working over a 40-50 year working span. Their pension pay deductions are taken into the Government's coffers. And whilst doing so public sector workers pensions contributions are propping up welfare giro payments to social scroungers in the private sector who don't want to do any work, except complain about their next welfare cheques.

[Mark]

We all have to work out our own way to retire. I am definitely behind and my wife and family have suffered.
I wish I had been wiser when I was younger but I didn't think it was important back then and now . . . here I am.

Cheers,

Mark