Uk National Health Service Pension Scheme, the NHS Pension Scheme is a pension scheme for people who work for the English NHS and NHS Wales. It is administered by the NHS Business Services Authority, a special health authority of the Department of Health of the United Kingdom. The NHS Pension Scheme was created in 1948.
The NHS Pension Scheme is made up of the 1995/2008 Scheme and the 2015 Scheme. From 1 April 2015 all new joiners, without previous scheme membership, join the 2015 Scheme automatically. Members prior to 1 April 2015 retain rights to remain in the 1995 or 2008 section of the existing scheme.
The NHS Pension Scheme has 1.35 million members actively contributing and 650,000 members.
The benefits and conditions vary according to the type of worker and the dates of their service; from 2008 the “Normal Retirement Age” changed from 60 years to 65 years while the proportion of pay upon which a pension is based was increased.
The benefits are index-linked and guaranteed. They are based on final salary (members who joined before 1 April 2008) or average salary (members who joined after 1 April 2008) and years of membership of the scheme. There are no administration costs. Members can increase their contributions if they wish to get larger benefits (within certain limits).