The number of GPs choosing to ‘partially retire’ so far in 2025 has slowed down by almost a third, NHS data has shown.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request put forward by Wesleyan Financial Services has revealed that 31 GPs filed an application for partial retirement during the first five months of this year, compared with 45 in the same period in 2024.
Looking at data supplied by the NHS Business Services Authority for all doctors – both hospital and GPs – highlights a more dramatic drop. Applications for partial retirement totalled 459 from January to May 2025, almost half the number for the same period in 2024, which came to 869.
Among the main factors causing this might be a lack of awareness of the flexibility in pension rules and a ‘deeply engrained sense of duty’ among doctors, according to Wesleyan.
The option to partially retire was introduced for members of the NHS pension scheme aged 55 and over in an effort to keep experienced doctors and staff working in the health service for longer.
Under this, doctors can take part, or all, of their pension benefits on one or two occasions, and continue in NHS employment provided they reduce their pensionable employment pay by at least 10%.
The measure had already been available to staff in the 2008 and 2015 ‘sections’ of the NHS pension scheme but only extended to include members of the 1995 ‘section’ in October 2023.
Since then, a total of 23,585 completed applications have been made for partial retirement across the scheme by both clinical and non-clinical members.
Wilf Moralee, medical regional manager at Wesleyan, said there were likely multiple factors driving the trend for lower numbers of doctors to choose partial retirement.
‘From my experience, the chief barriers are often a deeply engrained sense of duty that means doctors don’t want to reduce their hours and leave colleagues handling challenging conditions, and quite simply a lack of awareness that the facility is available or that the rules have changed,’ he said.
He also warned that potentially having to pay a higher tax bill is often raised as a concern. Although Mr Moralee advised that ‘even if there’s a tax bill to pay, it might be in a doctor’s best interests to still explore this option if the time and money that partial retirement can afford is worth it for their wellbeing.’
He explained: ‘Especially for members over 60 years old in the 1995 section of the NHS pension scheme, there are no actuarial enhancements for delaying taking the pension, so it may be a choice between a little extra tax on taking their pension compared with missing out on the income entirely.’
Wesleyan said it encourages all doctors to at least keep partial retirement in mind.
Mr Moralee said: ‘It can be incredibly powerful in helping manage burnout and in enabling medics to pursue fulfilling portfolio careers – which could be anything from undertaking research to teaching. And, it doesn’t even have to mean doing less. Although you need a 10% reduction in pensionable hours, you can often negotiate to fill that with non-pensionable work’.
