Q. I wanted to know if tax relief is available when additional pension is bought from the NHS scheme as it is when putting money into a personal pension. I have a children only dental contract and do not make the same contributions as I did when I fully worked as an NHS dentist. I am not [...]
NHS Benefits For Partners – Hot Topics Q & A
November 20, 2009 By
Q. I am a 45 year old Consultant with 21 years service in the NHS. I am a bit worried regarding the security of my long term girlfriend if I were to die. We dont intend to marry. How do I ensure any benefits a wife would normally receive are given to her? A. This is [...]
Life Assurance, Critical Illness Cover etc – Are You Paying For Policies You Don’t Need?
November 16, 2009 By
One of the common issues we find when we review a new client’s situation is that over the years they have been sold (or have purchased) many life, critical illness and income protection policies. Now, it’s important of course to state that such cover for, say, a couple with a family and a mortgage, is [...]
NHS Pensions Added Years- How To Purchase – Hot Topics Q&A
September 8, 2009 By
Q. I’m aware that I’m not going to accrue the full 40 years in the NHS Pension Superannuation Scheme as I did not qualify until I was aged 25. I’ve heard about buying ‘added years’. Can you tell me how to go about this? A. Until April 2008, buying added years was available. Many people [...]
NHS Pension Choices – The Key Factors
July 10, 2009 By
If you are a member of the NHS pension scheme, you will soon be asked to make a very important decision. That is, should you remain in the current version of the scheme (applies if you were a member pre-April 2008) or should you transfer to the new version (post-April 2008). To help, the NHS [...]
UK Dentists & Doctors – How Much Is Enough For Your Retirement?
May 7, 2009 By
Regular readers of our newsletter will probably recognise the words Cash Flow Forecast (Financial Map or Sat Nav), as we often refer to this when talking about how we help doctors and dentists work out: What they really want to achieve in life? What is this going to cost and when? How does this look [...]
New NHS Benefits – It’s All Ended In Tiers
April 7, 2009 By
There have been many changes in overall pension rules by the government, and we have discussed in Financial Tips how this has affected the NHS Pension Scheme in previous articles such as the Lifetime Allowance. Other NHS rule changes might not be so obvious, but for the unfortunate few who fall ill, have a serious [...]
NHS Pension Scheme Contribution Percentages – Hot Topics Q & A
March 17, 2009 By
Q. I am a Consultant age 57, and have decided to go part time next month. Looking at all the implications am I right to say that although my pay will be greatly reduced, I will still pay NHS Pension contributions based on my Whole Time Equivalent income? A. You have obviously done your homework. Yes [...]
New NHS Pension Choice At Retirement – More Pension or More Cash?
February 11, 2009 By
In the past when it came to how the NHS paid your pension, it was very simple. You had a pension based on the number of years’ service in the Scheme, your income, and whether you had purchased added years. You also received a tax free lump sum of three times that pension (although GMPs [...]
NHS Superannuation Pension – Do You Need To Protect It?
January 11, 2009 By
When the government announced its ‘Pension Simplification’ programme for April 2006 and called it ‘A Day’, we planners looked forward to many improvements (and simplifications). I suppose now nearly 3 years on we are not surprised to see that in some ways it has had the opposite effect. This is particularly true of something called [...]
