Post by northwestman on Mar 19, 2023 19:56:39 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/19/nhs-hospital-doctors-hunt-pension-giveaway-voluntary-early-jeremy-hunt-retirement
The number of hospital doctors that could be helped by Jeremy Hunt’s pensions giveaway has been cast into doubt, after new figures revealed that only 100 of them left the NHS last year due to voluntary early retirement.
Criticism has mounted about the measure announced in the budget, which would scrap the up to 55% tax levied on lifetime pension pots worth just over £1m and raise the annual allowance threshold from £40,000 to £60,000.
Despite claims it would only benefit the super-wealthy, the Treasury suggested the move would help the NHS to retain staff.
On Wednesday, Hunt said he had “listened to the concerns of many senior NHS clinicians, who say unpredictable pension tax charges are making them leave the NHS just when they are needed most”.
The number of hospital doctors to leave the NHS recently who it may have prevented from doing so is barely into three figures, according to statistics.
Just 105 of them left the NHS for voluntary early retirement in 2021/22, according to information provided by junior health minister Will Quince. The figure was 561 among nurses and 20 for health visitors.
Aside from the 8,191 NHS staff whose reason for leaving was “unknown”, the top recorded reasons given by NHS leavers were reaching the end of a fixed-term contract, hitting retirement age or relocating.
Tax expert Prof Richard Murphy of the University of Sheffield said it appeared ministers did not have the data to back their claims.
He said: “If they don’t know how many doctors are retiring for this reason, why did they change the pension policy for everybody to keep 105 doctors in the NHS?
“It looks like they used the fact that they know doctors are leaving for this reason to provide a pensions bung to the wealthy.”
Murphy added: “They haven’t got an evidence base for this policy, and that’s good enough to say it can’t have been for retiring NHS doctors.”
There are fairer and better ways to deal with that problem than simply handing over a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money to fund a tax cut for the wealthiest 1%, 84% of whom aren’t doctors.”
The number of hospital doctors that could be helped by Jeremy Hunt’s pensions giveaway has been cast into doubt, after new figures revealed that only 100 of them left the NHS last year due to voluntary early retirement.
Criticism has mounted about the measure announced in the budget, which would scrap the up to 55% tax levied on lifetime pension pots worth just over £1m and raise the annual allowance threshold from £40,000 to £60,000.
Despite claims it would only benefit the super-wealthy, the Treasury suggested the move would help the NHS to retain staff.
On Wednesday, Hunt said he had “listened to the concerns of many senior NHS clinicians, who say unpredictable pension tax charges are making them leave the NHS just when they are needed most”.
The number of hospital doctors to leave the NHS recently who it may have prevented from doing so is barely into three figures, according to statistics.
Just 105 of them left the NHS for voluntary early retirement in 2021/22, according to information provided by junior health minister Will Quince. The figure was 561 among nurses and 20 for health visitors.
Aside from the 8,191 NHS staff whose reason for leaving was “unknown”, the top recorded reasons given by NHS leavers were reaching the end of a fixed-term contract, hitting retirement age or relocating.
Tax expert Prof Richard Murphy of the University of Sheffield said it appeared ministers did not have the data to back their claims.
He said: “If they don’t know how many doctors are retiring for this reason, why did they change the pension policy for everybody to keep 105 doctors in the NHS?
“It looks like they used the fact that they know doctors are leaving for this reason to provide a pensions bung to the wealthy.”
Murphy added: “They haven’t got an evidence base for this policy, and that’s good enough to say it can’t have been for retiring NHS doctors.”
There are fairer and better ways to deal with that problem than simply handing over a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money to fund a tax cut for the wealthiest 1%, 84% of whom aren’t doctors.”