The NHS pension scheme makes a mountain out of flexible retirement, says Roderick Ramage
The principle of the 24-hour retirement rule is that a member of the NHS pension scheme may receive retirement benefits from the scheme and return to work if two conditions are satisfied:
retirement from NHS work for not less than 24 hours; and
that the retired member does not work for more than 16 hours per week in the first month after the pension becomes payable.
The application of this rule is described in a letter from the NHS Pensions Agency to all NHS chief executives, payroll managers et al, written in August 2006 to clarify “the rules regarding qualifying for retirement”. The letter deals with officer scheme members, practitioner scheme members and ill health pension benefits. Although not stated expressly it is probable that it came into effect on 6 April 2006. This date, known as A-Day is the day on which Pt 4 of the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004) came into force and wholly reformed the basis on which pension are taxed. The government called it “simplification” but pension
