PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
NHS: Pensions (25 July 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many senior staff left the NHS pension scheme in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018 and (e) 2019; and how people leaving the scheme affects other members of the scheme.

Asked by:
Matt Western (Labour)

The NHS Pension Scheme records opt-out data based on staff occupation, for example, doctors or nurses, rather than seniority. It is not possible to identify ‘senior staff’ within the available data.

The following table presents scheme opt-out data provided by the NHS Business Services Authority, who administer the NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales.

Scheme year	Number of active members electing to opt-out from scheme membership
2014-15	39,805
2015-16	35,538
2016-17	47,943
2017-18	44,890*
2018-19	43,309*

Note: *Figures for years 2017-18 and 2018-19 are provisional.

Over the five-year period ending 31 March 2019, there was a total of 211,485 opt-out elections recorded. Due to auto-enrolment legislation the data will include a member who has opted-out twice within the five years.

Where a member elects to opt-out, it has no direct effect on the benefit entitlements of other members.

Answered by:
Chris Skidmore (Conservative)
3 September 2019