Last month, we let you know that all NHS employers need to act now to make sure staff don’t miss out on pension benefits.
On 1 April 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) made a retrospective change to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations 2015. The changes make it clear that any additional hours worked up to whole time equivalent (WTE) are automatically pensionable for part-time NHS staff at their standard rate of pay.
All employers must write to affected employees before 1 January 2026 with information about what this means for them.
The NHSBSA has published updated guidance to help NHS Employers understand the changes, which can be found on our pay and contributions webpage. We have also created a toolkit of letter templates for you to use when writing to your employees.
We are also writing to affected NHS Pension Scheme members to tell them about the changes.
Most employers continued to treat additional hours for part-time NHS staff as pensionable pay. In this case, the Scheme member should have paid the right amount in contributions, and their additional hours will be reflected in their final benefits.