The NHS Pension Scheme is the occupational pension scheme for employees working for the NHS or for an organisation providing NHS services.
Following some changes in April 2015 there are now two schemes:
- 1995/2008 Pension Scheme (the “old” scheme) – closed to new entrants
- 2015 Pension Scheme (the “new" scheme) –all members will be transitioned to this scheme from April 2022 following the McCloud judgement which ordered the government to remove age discrimination from all public sector pensions such as the NHS scheme. See our information on age discrimination in reformed public service pension schemes
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website has information on the NHS pension scheme for members in Wales and England. If you are a member of the scheme applicable in Northern Ireland, see the HSC Pension Service website for more information. If you are a member of the scheme applicable in Scotland, see the Scottish Public Pensions Agency website for more information.
The amount of pension paid in retirement depends on the number of years someone pays in and their salary. The 1995/2008 Scheme is a final salary scheme that calculates benefits according to the best of the last years’ salary before retirement (best of the last 3 years for 1995 section members, and a salary derived from the best 3 of the last 10 years for 2008 section members). The 2015 scheme is a Career Average scheme, meaning that benefits for each year accrue according to the salary in that year.