24 February 2020

The College has signed a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, asking for a long-term solution in the next Budget to the pension tax issue.

The letter, also signed by ten other leading health organisations, calls for a reform of pension taxation policies to be implemented as soon as possible. 

Dear Chancellor,

Re: Pension reform within the 2020 Budget

We write as representatives of the medical profession across the UK, with regard to the drastic problems posed to the NHS workforce by current pension taxation policies. We are encouraged that the Government has committed to announcing a resolution to this issue in the Budget, but it must be the right one; one which will safeguard the NHS workforce for the long term.

The NHS is in the midst of a workforce crisis, with rising waiting times for cancer and routine surgery. A&E performance the worst since records began and 11 million patients experiencing unacceptable waiting times for GP appointments. We are past the point when significant action should have been taken. This affects doctors across all branches of practice, working for and delivering care across the NHS. They face the dilemma of incurring a disproportionate and ever-expanding pensions tax bill or cutting short their service to the NHS, reducing hours or turning down vital additional work.

We, therefore, call on you, as Chancellor, to announce at the Budget a complete, longterm, Treasury led solution that enables all doctors and allied health professionals to do the extra work that patients desperately need without the fear of incurring unexpected tax bills. It is essential that such a reform of pension taxation policies is implemented as soon as possible. This change is supported by the signatories of this letter and the tens of thousands of doctors our organisations represent.

We look forward to the Budget and hope that we will finally see a permanent resolution to this ongoing crisis.

Yours sincerely,

Signatories

  • Professor Jo Martin, President of the Royal College of Pathologists
  • Dr Chaand Nagpaul CBE, British Medical Association Council Chair
  • Dr Vishal Sharma, Chair of the British Medical Association Pension Committee
  • Professor Derek Alderson, President of the Royal College of Surgeons
  • Professor Michael Escudier, Dean, Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England
  • Professor Michael Griffin OBE, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
  • Professor Andrew Goddard, President of the Royal College of Physicians
  • Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners
  • Professor Russell Viner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
  • Dr Jeanette Dickson, President of the Royal College of Radiologists
  • Professor Jackie Taylor, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
  • Professor Maggie Rae, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health

Download the letter

 

Author(s)

Janine Aldridge

  • Public Affairs Officer