The under and over contributions have been caused by issues around incomplete and inaccurate pension contributions data and an inconsistent approach to applying guidance on practitioner pension contributions.

NHS employers, including self-employed GPs, dental practitioners and ophthalmic practitioners who deliver services for the NHS are responsible for ensuring that they deduct the correct contribution rates depending on their total pensionable pay.

It is the scheme member’s responsibility to inform all their employers of all earnings to ensure they can calculate and deduct the correct contribution rate.  

Assistant and salaried GP practitioners, including locums who are not principal GPs, as well as dental and ophthalmic practitioners, are required to ensure that aggregate earnings from all NHS employment are taken into account when setting the contribution rate.

The amount you pay towards your pension scheme depends on your ‘pensionable pay’ (which is your salary, wages, fees and any other regular payments, but not any bonuses, expenses or overtime payments).

As a practitioner, your contribution rate is based on your total pensionable income. This is the total of all earnings from:

• the Practice
• Out of hours contract
• Locum work

Your pensionable income does not include any bonuses, expenses or overtime payments.

In the short term we recommend that you check that you are paying the correct contribution rate on all of your Practitioner earnings and inform your employer(s) if you think this rate needs to be changed. You can find the latest contribution information in Circular 2024-09   Once the correct rate has been established, this must be applied to all earnings.
 

If you are affected, you may have already received a letter from the SPPA informing you that you could have over or under paid contributions to your scheme The SPPA is currently analysing data provided by employers to ensure it is accurate.  We will then assess whether individual members have over or underpaid contributions and once this is complete, we will write to you later in 2025 with more information about amounts that you have either over or underpaid.

If I have not received a letter, does this mean my contributions are correct? 

No. Two pilot projects were conducted through 2022 and 2023 but not all Practitioners were included in the mailing exercise Therefore, if you have not yet received a letter you may still be affected by this. 

The SPPA is currently working to ensure that the information held on your pension record is checked and verified with your employer or financial service provider and all Practitioners are included in this data checking process. This will confirm if you have under or over paid and we will be in touch with those scheme members who require further action later in 2025.

In the short term we recommend that you check that you are paying the correct contribution rate on all of your Practitioner earnings and inform your employer(s) via the Annex D form, if you think this rate needs to be changed. You can find the latest contribution information in NHS Circular 2024-09. and the Annex D form can be found in the NHS Forms section.

Please take note of the entire document, including the Annexes (A, B, C and D) as these provide additional information and an explanation of the aggregation and contribution rates for practitioners. It is a condition of a GP’s NHS Pension Scheme (Scotland) membership that practitioners proactively liaise with relevant NHS organisations to ensure they have paid the correct tiered contributions across the board.  

There is nothing for you to do now and no need to contact us at this stage. We will be in touch with more detail throughout 2025.

If the data shows you have underpaid pension contributions, we will share the total amount you owe and explain how to organise payment. There will be options to repay contributions over time, as well as one off payments.

Members who have underpaid will only have to pay back contributions from the past five years. Anything prior to 2019 will not be included in the calculation and there will be no detriment to your future pension.

If the data shows you have overpaid pension contributions, we will explain how much we owe you and how and when you will be reimbursed. Members who have overpaid will be reimbursed all money owed (going back as far as 2008).

The under and over contributions have been caused by issues around incomplete and inaccurate employment data and an inconsistent approach to applying guidance on practitioner pension contributions.

We know you’ll want assurance that your future contributions are accurate. That’s why the team will also be working with all employers to implement prevention strategies. In future, we will encourage consistent application of processes which will ensure the issue of widespread over and under payments does not happen again.

If contributions are wrong, will that affect my pension?

No. Your pension contributions do not directly affect your pension calculation.  However, incorrect contributions do affect the ability to run the NHS pension scheme effectively overall.  

Pension payments to retired members are funded through the contributions of current active member contributions. This is a standard approach usual in a Defined Benefit scheme. 

The NHS Pension scheme is a Defined Benefit scheme. This means that how much you receive -, your pension award -, will depends on your salary, how long you have worked for your employer and a calculation made under the rules of your pension scheme.  

The scheme administrator is responsible for ensuring that there is ’s enough money in the scheme to ensure all members who are retired are paid the pension income they are due.at the time you retire to pay your pension income. 

NOTE; Other schemes, often used in the private sector, do not offer a set pension income, and the pension saver takes on investment risk, as their returns are not guaranteed. This is known as Direct Contribution Scheme. NHS Pension Scheme is not a Direct Contribution Scheme 

Statutory Requirements 

The SPPA administer the NHS Pension scheme (Scotland). The SPPA is responsible for ensuring that the pension is calculated correctly and paid on time, based on information provided to us by NHS Employers. 

NHS Employer 

NHS Employers, including self-employed GPs who deliver services for the NHS, are responsible for ensuring that they deduct the correct contribution rates depending on the total pensionable pay of a member.  

NHS Scheme Member

It is the responsibility of a scheme member to inform all employers of all appropriate earnings to ensure they can calculate and deduct the correct contribution rate.