13 December 2006
The British Medical Association (BMA) is seeking legal advice on
mounting a challenge to last week's decision by health minister
Lord Warner to cap GPs' pensions.
GPs' contracts were reviewed in 2004 to guarantee a greater link
between earnings and retirement income, but the Department of
Health claims that a recent surge in GPs' salaries means the
payment of pensions is no longer sustainable.
Chairman of BMA's GPs committee Hamish Meldrum said: "The
Government's decision is a betrayal of good faith and is depriving
doctors of a pension they have a legal right to receive. Most GPs
are self-employed and pay both the employers' and employees'
contributions into the National Health Service (NHS) pension
scheme. To say they cannot have the pension they earned is a denial
of their contractual rights."
