Pension plan axed


A controversial plan by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey to offer cash to nurses who opt out of the NHS pension scheme has been dropped, after strong opposition by the unions. 


The scheme, initially offered to future Band 5 nurses in return for a higher starting salary, encouraged nurses to put their financial futures at risk, the Royal College of Nursing warned. 


There is a big problem of falling real pay levels in the NHS caused by the government’s continuing policy of wage restraint, which was leading to recruitment difficulties, said Peter Finch, assistant director of the CSP physiotherapists’ union. 


Finch added that undermining a key staff benefit “wasn’t the way to deal with it and could have only further dented morale”.


www.csp.org.uk/news/2016/04/12/trust-drops-controversial-nhs-pension-opt-out-scheme