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Final salary pensions should be replaced with career average schemes, the normal pension age should increase to at least 65, and employees could be asked pay more in contributions, the final report of the nine month review of public sector pensions has recommended.
The BMA has branded any increase in retirement age for NHS staff "unacceptable." Hamish Meldrum, chairman of council at the BMA, said, "Doctors in their late twenties who had expected to retire at 60 could now have to work to the state retirement age of 68. Such a sudden leap is particularly unfair given that NHS staff signed up to a significantly revised pension scheme only three years ago."
The association has warned that any increase in pension age could precipitate mass retirement of senior GPs, the lynchpin of the government's health reforms, who could take early retirement to avoid being affected by the proposed changes, due to be in place by 2015.
"There would be a real risk of a staff exodus, as doctors in their fifties-many of whom are eligible for voluntary early retirement-consider their futures," said the BMA. "GPs in particular-despite being central to Government plans for the NHS in England-may be tempted to take 24 hour retirement (an option that allows them to draw a pension while working reduced hours)...