BMA joins health unions’ campaign on pensions
BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d5544 (Published 31 August 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d5544
The BMA has helped set up a pensions campaign group with 12 other health professional organisations and unions to discuss coordinated action to oppose the government’s plans on public sector pensions.
The group, which was formed at a dedicated summit led by the public sector union Unison, has said that NHS-wide industrial action is an option should talks on pension reforms break down. However, it emphasised that it will ensure that patient safety is “paramount” in any coordinated action.
The group has reiterated unions’ commitment to negotiations with the government over pensions but warned against “unrealistic timetables or ultimatums.”
It includes medical professional organisations such as the Royal College of Nurses, the Royal College of Midwives, and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and unions representing public sector workers, such as Unison, Unite, and the GMB.
The Department of Health for England has said that “constructive” talks on pensions are still ongoing and that “it would be very wrong to make assumptions about their outcome.”
“The NHS pension will remain one of the very best available, providing a guaranteed pension level for all employees,” a department spokesperson said. “But the status quo is not sustainable, with people living much longer, substantially increasing the cost to the taxpayer. Lord Hutton [in his report on public sector pensions (BMJ Careers, 11 Mar, http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20002142)] made it absolutely clear that there needs to be a fairer balance between what employees and taxpayers contribute to public service pensions.”
The health department is currently consulting on plans to raise rates of contributions to the NHS pension by up to 2.4 percentage points in 2012-13 and up to 6 percentage points in total by 2014-15 (BMJ Careers, 29 Jul, http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20004002). The consultation, which has been running for a month and closes on 21 October, has received 1000 responses so far, 900 of them from doctors.
“We’ve been encouraging doctors to respond to the consultation and make their feelings known about all the changes the government has in mind, not just the contributions increase,” said a BMA spokesman. “The level of response just reflects the depth of feeling among doctors—they feel they’re being treated unfairly given all the changes [to their pensions] in 2008.”