P R E S S     R E L E A S E


20th February 2005

For immediate release

Pensions Review

The Terms and Conditions Committee (TCC) of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists met on 9th February 2005 to discuss our response to the NHS Pensions Review Consultation.

We accept that there are some useful and welcome proposals contained within the Review. These include

However these beneficial aspects whilst welcome for some individual members are more than outweighed in our view by major proposals designed principally to reduce pensions expenditure. At a time when we have had Agenda for Change designed to improve service delivery and recruitment and retention of staff it appears that the pension proposals will reverse the progress and financially disadvantage most pharmacists in the managed sector. The major concerns are

Individual existing members can use the “Transition Modeller” on the website www.nhsemployers.org to see the effects of the rise in pension age to 65, which usually means for staff around 40 that they will be required to work an extra year to maintain their existing pension but have a 20-25% higher pension if they stay on to 65 years. The modeller illustrating possible outcomes from CARE and Final Salary “the future service modeller” has limited use for existing employees as it is designed for new employees.


David Miller
Chair of Terms and Conditions
Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists

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