The annual allowance is a threshold which restricts the amount of pension savings you are allowed each year before tax charges apply.

The NHS pensions agencies are obliged to send you an annual allowance statement when the growth in your pension has exceeded the standard annual allowance (currently £60,000) in any one pension scheme.

What's included in your statement

The annual period being assessed for growth is 6 April to 5 April, in line with the tax year, and is known as the pension input period.

Members who have been in the 1995/2008 sections and are now in the 2015 scheme  should receive a statement if the total combined growth, across both schemes, exceeds the standard annual allowance. We recommend you contact your pension scheme to request a statement.

Members who have been in the 1995/2008 sections and are now in the 2015 scheme and who exceed the standard annual allowance limit in one scheme should receive two separate statements advising of the individual growth in each scheme.  There are no legal requirements on schemes to issue statements where the growth in each scheme is below the standard annual allowance but the combined growth across each scheme exceeds the standard limit.  It is therefore recommended that members contact the relevant Pensions Agency to request their annual allowance statements on a yearly basis.

The statement will include NHS added years and additional pension growth. Other NHS additional voluntary contributions or NHS stakeholder pensions are not included in the statement.

Additional pension savings, including with other providers, will also need to be taken into account when determining whether you have a charge to pay.

The standard annual allowance (or the reduced and tapered allowance) is your annual limit across all pension savings and not your limit in relation to each scheme.

Higher earners and tapered allowance

Higher earners (broadly with taxable income over £200,000 after pension contributions have been deducted) may have a lower tapered annual allowance than the standard allowance of £60,000.

This is because for higher earners, the standard annual allowance limit tapers down (possibly to £10,000). You can check to see if you are affected by working out your tapered annual allowance on GOV.UK.

Members with defined contribution pension savings (such as personal pensions and SIPPs) which have been flexibly accessed may also be subject to a reduced alternative annual allowance. Members of the NHS pension scheme who take partial retirement are not subject to the reduced alternative annual allowance as this relates to flexible draw downs from defined contribution schemes and not a defined benefit scheme such as the NHS pension scheme.

If you are a higher earner who is affected and you are subject to a reduced tapered annual allowance, the scheme will not know of this (as all of your earnings are taken into account and not just NHS earnings).

Agencies will continue to send statements only when the standard annual allowance (£ 60,000 from 6 April 2023) has been exceeded in one scheme. Equally, if you are subject to the alternative annual allowance, you will need to notify the relevant NHS Scheme and request a statement to check your liability to tax. This can be done by contacting the scheme directly:

NHSBSA (England and Wales)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0300 3301 346

SPPA (Scotland)

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 01896 893 000

HSC (Northern Ireland)

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 028 7131 9111

GPs

GPs will not receive statements when they are due as the NHS pensions agencies are only able to issue them once certified incomes (and therefore confirmed pension growth) details are known.

It may be necessary to use an accountant to estimate your position in order to be able to complete tax returns and use scheme pays to meet tax charges.

These estimates can then be amended within four years of the relevant tax year.

If you exceed the annual allowance limit

Your statement (or combined statements) showing growth above the limit allowed does not necessarily mean that you will be subject to a tax charge.

Using previous unused allowance

You are allowed to carry forward unused allowances from the three previous years. This may be sufficient to mean that excess growth over the limit is covered by the allowance carried forward.

You are able to assess your position, including carry forward, by using this HMRC tool.

The HMRC tool requires that you know what your previous three years annual allowance position has been. If you have exceeded your annual allowance limit in any of the last three years, you will need to go back three years prior to that to show your true carry forward position.

If you have enough carry forward to eliminate the excess, there is nothing further you need to do and the fact does not need to be declared anywhere.

Offsetting negative growth in legacy public sector schemes (1995/2008)

The Budget on 15 March 2023

Offsetting negative growth in legacy public sector schemes (1995/2008) against growth in the reformed public sector schemes was introduced in the budget  on 15 March 2023.  This takes effect from 6 April 2023 and  will mean that where public service pay growth is below the previous September’s Consumer Price Index, any negative growth of final salary pension rights can be offset against positive new accrual in the reformed public sector schemes.

Negative growth cannot be carried forward.

If you still have an excess

If you still have an excess after using carry forward from the previous three years and offsetting from any negative growth in the current year (from 6 April 2023 onwards), this is taxed by adding the amount to your taxable income and paying tax at your marginal rate of income tax.

Paying the charge

The charge needs to be declared and paid for either by cash on completing a tax return or by using scheme pays (a loan from the scheme recouped with interest from your pension at retirement) or a combination of both.

examples of how the tax charge is calculated.

Please note the principles of the above as the specifics in relation to the standard and tapered allowance and marginal rates of income tax may vary between the nations.

Tax return

supplementary form SA101 to be completed, along with the tax return.

Deadlines and scheme pays

There are deadlines for declaring and paying any annual allowance charge.

The deadline for cash via a tax return is 31 January following the end of the relevant tax year. For example for 2021/22, the tax return needs to be in by 31 January 2023.

If your charge exceeds the standard annual allowance (rather than any personal tapered allowance) and is more than £2,000, it can be met by use of the mandatory scheme pays facility. The deadline to return the completed SPE2 form to the scheme is 31 July in the following year.

If your charge is less than £2,000 (but still needs to be more than £1000 in Scotland) or exceeds your tapered allowance but not the standard allowance, it can be met by use of the voluntary scheme pays facility. The deadline to return the completed SPE2 form to the scheme is 31 July in the following year. Sometimes the scheme extends the deadline for receipt of the voluntary scheme pays election.

If you want the scheme to pay the charge via scheme pays you need to complete the SPE2 election form.

The form for members in England and Wales can be found here.

The form for members in Scotland can be found here.

The form for members in Northern Ireland can be found here.

Due to the implementation of the McCloud remedy the deadlines for issuing pension saving statements for 2022/23 and for applying for scheme pays thereafter are moved back.  Statements for 2022/23 need to be provided by schemes by 6 October 2024 and scheme pays elections will need to be made by 6 July 2025 (active or deferred members) or 6 July 2027 (pensioner members).

Alternative options for pension contribution

Active members of the NHS pension scheme who are affected by the annual allowance or lifetime allowance (which will no longer result in a charge when accessing benefits from 6 April 2023) can either:

1.     continue in the NHS scheme and bear any additional tax charges that arise

2.     opt out of the NHS scheme and potentially be paid a separate cash payment.

For more information on opting out of the scheme, please see our guidance on the pension contribution alternative reward policy below.

Whilst the BMA continues to campaign for recycling schemes to be mandatory it is currently up to each employer whether they offer one and the criteria on which such a scheme operates.