Pensions

Doctors’ pensions: Labour would abolish cap, says Wes Streeting

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This might seem a strange and tangential story to feature but it is an example of a crucial issue which underpins the real shortage of skilled staff in rural NHS setting. It tells us:

Wes Streeting, the shadow health and social care secretary, has said Labour would abolish the cap on doctors’ pensions which he believes would reduce waiting lists “and will inevitably save lives”.

The MP for Ilford North claimed the “crazy” cap deters many experienced doctors from working late into their careers.

He told the Telegraph: “I’m not pretending that doing away with the cap is a particularly progressive move. But it is one that sees patients seen faster, and will inevitably save lives. I’m just being hard-headed and pragmatic about this.”

The lifetime pension allowance, which was frozen last year at just over £1m until 2026, is the amount that any individual can save into a pension tax-free.

A second cap applies to the amount accumulated in a pension without incurring tax.

Under current rules doctors are unable to opt out of paying into their NHS pensions even if they have reached the cap, resulting in some high-earners taking early retirement.

Record numbers struggle to see GP – and most can’t see the one they want 

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Another excellent article from Laura Donnelly following her previous work on increasing distances between GPs and their patients. This article demonstrates how apart from in some of the remotest places the days of the family doctor are numbered….

Most patients who want to see their own GP can no longer get an appointment with them, according to new figures suggesting the days of the family doctor are over. 

The statistics show record numbers of patients struggling to even get through on the telephone, and increasingly long waits for an appointment. 

For the first time, the majority of patients who wanted to see a particular doctor were unable to do so, the survey of more than 770,000 patients shows. 

The research comes amid mounting evidence of a wider NHS crisis, with waiting lists reaching an all-time high.  

Medics said the “worrying” situation was being fuelled by a dispute over pensions, with senior doctors increasingly refusing to work overtime, or opting for early retirement, to avoid high tax rates. 

The figures show that the proportion of patients finding it difficult to get through to make a GP appointment has risen by 65 per cent since 2012.  

In total, 31.7 per cent struggled to make contact, compared with 19.2 per cent seven year ago, the annual GP survey shows. 

More than half of those polled had a preferred GP.  

And of those just 48 per cent said they saw or spoke to them “always or almost always”, or “a lot of the time”. 

The figure is a fall from 50.2 per cent in 2018. It is also a steep drop from 65 per cent in 2012, although researchers said changes in the way the survey was carried out meant the figures were not directly comparable.

Rising numbers turned to A&E when their GP practices was closed the figures show.

Council staff pensions at risk from Woodford investments

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Worrying stuff for local government workers in Derbyshire and West Yorkshire. Interestingly this article makes me ponder if we can afford to let someone like this take risks with our money why can’t we do more to invest it instead in local economic development. The impact could be particularly strong in rural areas affected by market failure.

Council workers have been left exposed to the underperformance of Neil Woodford’s stock market-listed fund, with a £10m investment by council pension schemes at risk from the fund’s declining share price.

Shares in the Woodford Patient Capital Trust Fund have tumbled 25% to 58p since 3 June, when Woodford made the shock decision to suspend his flagship Equity Income Fund, following a surge in redemptions sparked by bad market bets.

While the FTSE 250-listed fund is not directly affected by the suspension, the move at its sister fund caused a sell off in shares and the value of shareholder investments to decline.

At least three local authority pension funds, including Derbyshire, West Yorkshire and Dyfed in Wales, have investments tied up in Woodford’s patient capital fund and risk seeing their investments fall further as the stock price continues to slide. Those pensions investments help fund retirement benefits for members including local government employees, councillors, school teachers, charities and housing association staff.

Plan to end the tax trap on NHS senior doctors’ pensions

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This is an interesting development in the context of the increasing challenge of recruiting GPs in rural areas. The article tells us:

They are considering changing the NHS pensions scheme so that staff can make only half their usual pensions contributions for up to 10 years during their careers. It is known as a “50/50” pension because healthcare personnel pay only half the usual amounts for a set period, but then receive commensurately less money when they start drawing their pension in retirement.

Already used in local government, it is designed to stop the current situation that means medics in the late stage of their careers are being hit with big tax charges for exceeding their pension allowance limits, especially if they do extra work.

Some of the service’s most experienced doctors are reducing their hours, refusing to plug rota gaps or quitting earlier than intended to avoid effectively being charged more than 100% tax on some of their earnings.

The disclosure comes days before NHS bosses are set to publish a long-awaited strategy to tackle the worsening shortages of doctors, nurses and other professionals. Figures show the service in England alone is short of 9,100 doctors and 40,000 nurses.

 “Philip Hammond and Matt Hancock seem to agree that this is a good change to make. It would help the NHS stop haemorrhaging experienced doctors because of the existing pension rules,” said one senior NHS figure who has been made aware of the ministerial discussions.

Number of public sector pensioners on £100k trebles in seven years

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This is a pernicious article. It aims to undermine the pension rights of hard working local government staff and more widely public sector workers, under the guise of claims of inter-generational unfairness. In a population of over 60 million how relevant is it really to talk about an increase from 117 to 375 pensioners with large pensions! In the interest of balance how many private sector employees have six-figure pensions? It is another example of how people in the public sector are characterized as second class citizens unworthy of the same benefits as everyone else. There used to be an appreciation of something called “public service”…..

The number of people in the public sector’s largest pension schemes retiring on incomes of more than £100,000 has more than tripled in the past seven years, according to figures obtained by a charity promoting intergenerational fairness.

Pensions schemes covering the NHS, the civil service and the teaching profession were paying six-figure incomes last year to 375 retirees, up from 117 in 2010. 

Those in receipt of pensions higher than the UK’s average annual salary of about £28,600 also increased by 46% – up from 78,000 in 2010/11 to 115,000 in 2017/18.

The Intergenerational Foundation said the figures, which it obtained through freedom of information requests, illustrated a growing divide between the generations.

Angus Hanton, the co-founder of IF, said the figures excluded the state pension, which adds another £8,767 to the incomes of new retirees and would likely push the pensions of thousands more public sector workers above the average wage.

He said successive governments had sought to protect those close to retirement at the expense of a younger generation whose pensions would be much less generous.

Britain’s grey towns: find out if you will be living in a pensioner-dominated area within 20 years

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Its no surprise to me that these towns are almost all in rural settings. There is a distinctive demography to many of our rural service centres which provides a unique opportunity and challenge for how we support their development. This story tells us:

Britain is facing a “pensioner” explosion with some areas forecast to see their numbers of elderly expand to up to 90 per cent of their adult populations.

Traditional coastal and rural towns and villages dominate the new “grey” hotspots ranging from West Somerset and West Dorset in the west of England, North Norfolk and Suffolk in the East and Scarborough, Fylde, Ryedale and South Lakeland in the North.

The number of men and women aged over 65 is expected to increase by 40 per cent by 2041 to more than 14 million, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The biggest rise will be among those aged over 90 where numbers will more than double from 500,000 to 1.2 million in two decades…

Millions in Britain at risk of poor-quality later life, report says

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This report suggests if you’re poor, old and poorly in rural England its not a good mix! It tells us:

A landmark report on the state of ageing in Britain has warned that a significant proportion of people are at risk of spending later life in poverty, ill-health and hardship.

Britain is undergoing a radical demographic shift, with the number of people aged 65 and over set to grow by more than 40% in two decades, reaching more than 17 million by 2036. The number of households where the oldest person is 85 or over is increasing faster than any other age group.

But although we are living longer than ever before, the report warns that millions risk missing out on a good later life due to increasing pressure on health and care services, local authorities, the voluntary sector and government finances.

“Ageing is inevitable but how we age is not. Our current rates of chronic illness, mental health conditions, disability and frailty could be greatly reduced if we tackled the structural, economic and social drivers of poor health earlier,” said Dr Anna Dixon, the chief executive at Centre for Ageing Better.

“Our extra years of life are a gift that we should all be able to enjoy and yet – as this report shows – increasing numbers of us are at risk of missing out,” she added.

The Centre for Ageing Better’s report, The State of Ageing in 2019, warns that today’s least well-off over-50s face far greater challenges than wealthier peers and are likely to die younger, become sicker earlier and fall out of work due to ill-health.

Nine in ten state carers miss out on state pension top-up

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This is a real issue for rural carers and merits some real campaigning to ensure it is addressed. This story tells us:

Not working while caring for someone who is sick or infirm leaves gaps in National Insurance payments, hitting your state pension.

In 2010 the Government launched Carer’s Credit to fill the gap.

However, more than 90% of those eligible for the credit in 2018 did not claim it, according to a Freedom of Information request by Quilter, the wealth adviser.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimates around 200,000 carers are eligible for the credit, but only 17,388 claimed it last year.

Jon Greer, of Quilter, said: “Unpaid carers save the UK £132bn a year. But they sometimes don’t even see themselves as carers or the extent of the sacrifice they are making.”

To receive Carer’s Credit you must be between 16 and state pension age and look after at least one person for a minimum of 20 hours a week.

Thousands of poorest pensioners will lose out, government reveals

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Astounding, ostensibly callous and likely to have a massive impact on a number of rural pensioners. This story tells us:

The government has revealed that 60,000 of the least well-off pensioners with partners of working age are set to lose thousands of pounds a year as a result of benefit changes designed to save £1bn over the next five years.

A rule change coming into force on 15 May means that pensioners who have partners under the state retirement age of 65 will no longer be able to claim for pension credit, a means-tested top-up for older people on very low incomes.

The change means pensioners claiming after that date must sign up to the much less generous universal credit, a move which will leave the couple potentially £7,000 a year worse off.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, called the move an “ill thought-out decision” that would potentially devastate the incomes of poorer older people.

Analysts say the scale of the losses faced by couples could put pressure on relationships, and may persuade them that they cannot afford to marry or move in together. Some may consider splitting up to try to avoid the loss.

The change, which was slipped out in January on the evening of a Brexit vote, was condemned by charities as a stealth cut which would drive up pensioner poverty, although at the time there were no details of how many people would be affected.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) revealed in an analysis published on Thursday that the rule change will affect 15,000 couples this year, rising to 60,000 in 2023-24. Estimated savings will be £45m this year, rising to £385m by 2023-24, amounting to cumulative savings of £1.1bn.

‘Mad’ rules leave pensioners with pennies

This article explains how many people may have had a main pension….

But many also put cash into another pension – whether a personal plan or a company arrangement – at some point.

Typically, this is a forgotten lump sum deposit, or a small number of contributions which tally just a few thousand pounds.

As Mr Anderson discovered, government rules stipulate that unless this money is worth less than £2,000, it almost always must be converted into an income by buying an annuity (see box, right).

“These limits are totally ridiculous in today’s situation where annuity rates are so small,” Mr Anderson said. “In theory, I could buy an annuity with my £2,500 but, after paying fees and set – up charges, the income would be little more than pennies per week.”

A huge 100,700 people bought an annuity with savings of less than £10,000 in last year. More than half had a pension funds, worth less than £5,000, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the insurance trade body.

This is a big but quiet scandal and needs sorting quickly particularly in the interests of the rural elderly who might find access to their legitimate savings helps them to live in countryside with a reasonable quality of life

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