The British Medical Association (BMA) has expressed disappointment over the Department of Health’s (DH) decision to reject the claims of 3,000 doctors’ who argued that the NHS pension changes are unfair.

More than 3,100 doctors agreed with the BMA using the association’s template letter to respond to the DH’s consultation on NHS pension scheme contributions.

The letter urged the DH to take a fairer approach to contribution rates, both as part of the current consultation, but also in forthcoming talks on the post-2015 contributions structure.

It stated: “The repeated increases in contribution rates constitute a double unfairness, penalising both higher paid NHS staff who, due to steep tiering of contributions, will pay disproportionately more for their pensions than lower paid colleagues, and NHS staff as a whole, who will contribute more than many other public sector workers, for similar pensions.”

However, the DH rejected these claims in its consultation report, arguing “high earners tend to get more value in pension benefits per pound contributed than lower earners”.

Responding to this, BMA council chair Mark Porter said: ‘Yet again the government has shown that following a consultation it is willing to disregard the comments received.

‘We’re disappointed that, despite the fantastic response from BMA members, and the strength of our case, the government has – for now at least – failed to acknowledge our arguments about the steep contributions tiering.’

The consultation drew 3,198 responses from hospital doctors, consultants and GPs saying the increased levels were unfair and disproportionate to higher earners. Of the responses, 3,155 were from doctors who used a BMA template letter.

Share Story: