The British Medical Association (BMA) has said that the NHS is on the cusp of a “major workforce crisis” if the government fails to address the ongoing pensions crisis.

In a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May sent on Saturday, 8 June, the association urged the outgoing Prime Minister to “secure the future stability of the medical workforce” by finding a resolution to current taxation system currently plaguing NHS employees.

The BMA reiterated its calls to meet with Chancellor Philip Hammond and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, in order solve the issue, having said that the proposed 50:50 solution “will categorically not solve the problem”.

BMA council chair, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, wrote: “In full awareness that you are in your final days as Prime Minister, I write on behalf of the BMA with regard to our ongoing concern that the NHS is on the cusp of a major workforce crisis.

“We hope that as your tenure draws to a close you will put in place measures to secure the future stability of the medical workforce and prevent patient services being adversely affected.”

“Although we hope to meet the Secretary of State to discuss short-term mitigating options, the true solution lies in pension taxation reform. Members of the NHS pension scheme have no control over the amount they pay into their pension and tax relief is already limited via the lifetime allowance.

“The annual and tapered annual allowance are not only unnecessary but are significantly damaging the ability to maintain safe, sufficient patient care and must be scrapped urgently.”

Last week, the government said it would be launching a consultation at the end of June, to deliver a “new pension flexibility” for senior clinicians.

However, Dr Nagpaul added that the current proposed 50:50 solution would result in a lower pension for doctors and would remove the “perverse incentive” for employees to reduce their hours, “particularly the case if there is no recycling of employers’ pension contributions back to the employees”.

The issue is also impacting the Defence Medical Services, however, according to a written parliamentary question the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Defence Penny Mordaunt have yet to discuss the issue.

Since the introduction of the annual allowance taper in April 2016, and the lowering of the tax relief threshold from £1.25m to £1m, many consultants are penalised for continuing to pay into their pension fund.

Furthermore, many NHS employees are not in a position to regulate their pension contribution, meaning they will not know until after the event if they have exceeded the savings limit.

Calls have been growing to scrap the taper, which is thought to bring in £6bn of revenue for the government, however last month the Chancellor Philip Hammond ruled this out, describing it as necessary “to create a fair system and protect finances”.

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