Failing to be kept up to date with latest information about their NHS pension is causing 43% of GPs to experience mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or stress, a BMA survey has found.
A third (33%)also said not having fully updated pension records was having a negative affect on their performance at work.
In addition, errors and delays in receiving pensions-related paperwork is causing 31% of GPs to suffer depression, anxiety, stress, emotional distress or other mental health problems, with almost a quarter (24%) saying it has affected work performance.
A survey of 500 GPs was carried out by the BMA as it also separately uncovered the fact that more than half of GPs in England are missing vital information about their pensions.
A freedom of information request from the BMA to NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), which is responsible for administering the NHS Pension Scheme in England and Wales, showed that 18,575 GPs in England had missing pensions records.
This equates to 56% of GPs in the country who should have had their records fully updated to 2022/23 – and 156,896 years of pension data missing in total.
The BMA blames failures by both NHSBSA and Primary Care Support England (PCSE) for not ensuring pension records are kept up-to-date.
It further points out that NHS Pensions is legally obliged to provide GPs in England with an annual benefit statement for their pension yet this isn’t being fulfilled. In addition, GPs should be able to access pension records online via NHSBSA’s My NHS Pension portal, but the BMA says this is ‘not fit for purpose’.
The impact of being unable to access accurate and up-to-date pension data means it is impossible for GPs to plan for retirement and assess their immediate pension tax position, the union adds. This also makes planning their workloads difficult – and, in many cases, will prevent GPs from taking on additional work for fear of being caught out by high pension tax bills in the future, it warns.
BMA pensions committee deputy chair and GP pensions lead Dr Krishan Aggarwal said doctors have been facing problems accessing the right information about their pensions for years.
‘Now these figures show the sheer scale of the problem,’ he added.
‘The fact that more than half of GPs in England are missing pension data is a scandal. At a time when patients need more GPs working in practices, it is absurd that GPs are unable to make informed decisions about their work commitments and may be prevented from offering themselves up for more sessions.
‘In addition to the impact of this on practice capacity is the toll it takes on individual GPs who are struggling through the complex and frustrating pension system on top of what is an incredibly stressful and highly-pressured job.’
The BMA is demanding that NHS England personally contacts GPs who are missing records and works with them to rectify the situation. It has also called on NHSBSA to ‘urgently fix issues with its portal’, so that GPs can access their information directly.
‘It’s imperative that the Government and NHS England get a grip on this and put measures into place to ensure GPs can access up-to-date pension information so that family doctors can focus on what they want to be doing – caring for patients in their practices – rather than dealing with the chaos of a pension system that is not even serving its most basic function,’ Dr Aggarwal said.
Earlier this year, the BMA revealed that at least 757 doctors received a pension savings statement for 2023/24 containing wrong information, potentially causing ‘financial detriment and distress’.
Delays in pensions paperwork due to be sent to members of the NHS pension affected by the McCloud case, including GPs, practice managers and other practice staff, by April 1, have also led to them potentially losing out financially.
