Either we accept huge changes to our pensions, or we prepare for the first ballot of doctors on industrial action since the seventies.   As new Chair of the Pensions Committee (and what impeccable timing I displayed there!) the most important thing I’m going to ask you to do is to complete the survey on the offer being posted to all BMA members in early January.

There are a lot of ironies to the current situation.  There’s the fact that NHS staff are facing massive contribution hikes despite the fact that our pension scheme is delivering billions to the Treasury while other schemes are in deficit (estimated £10bn over the next five years).  Or that we’re being told our pensions need an overhaul to make them affordable, when they already underwent a massive overhaul only three years ago that included a cost-sharing agreement so the general public wouldn’t have to pay for any increase in the cost of the scheme.

But as a registrar probably the biggest irony to me is that the people who are going to be hardest hit by these changes often seem to be less aware of what’s happening than their senior colleagues.  This is a great worry when the changes will have such a significant impact. Pensions can seem a long way off when you’re starting out your career, but they’re deferred pay after all and for many it will feel like a further pay cut.

From next April, pension contributions will increase – very sharply in some cases. The changes mean that a junior doctor could typically pay over £200,000 in additional contributions over the course of their career.  That career will be longer, like it or not – you’ll have to work to 68 before you can draw a full pension.  And the deal you get on retirement is likely to be worth less – a junior doctor aged 25 can expect their overall pension benefits to be worth 16.5% less over the course of their retirement.

You can see how you might be affected by checking out our online Pensions Calculator or attending one of our pensions roadshows taking place across the UK in January.

Contrary to some of the media reports, the health unions, including the BMA, have not agreed to this ‘final offer’ announced by the government on the 20^th December.  We are gauging the views of our members before we decide on the next step.   So please complete the survey – if you don’t, you’re risking someone else making a decision about your future.

I am. I’ve read the proposed changes and, as juniors, we have the most to be worried about.

Most of us are fairly early on in our NHS careers, some of you are probably in the same position as me; deciding whether to migrate onto the new scheme as part of the ‘choice exercise’.

That decision appears to be rather futile given the transformational changes being proposed by the government. Lord Hutton has recommended that the normal pension age should increase to as much as 68 years old and then continue to be linked to future increases in the state pension age. The government has endorsed this recommendation and therefore we face the real prospect of being victims of these changes. So much for my dreams of retiring at 60 on a full pension!

Instead I can expect to work an extra 8 years to 68.

It’s not just a matter of lost years. It’s a matter of money. Those 8 years could equate to an extra £140,000 in contributions according to figures seen by the BMA. It could also equate to a loss of up to £400,000 in pension payments during that time.

The BMA pensions department are crunching the numbers, and if all the government proposals are pushed through, then I as a young, soon-to-be GP could actually be better off with a private pension. If I can earn a better rate on the open market with no employer contribution, why should I bother propping up a scheme delivering a surplus to the treasury?

Please don’t take this as financial advice – I’m a doctor not an accountant, and the BMA are certainly going to be fighting hard over this to prevent a worst case scenario. But, we all need to have our collective ears pricked up so we are alert to this massive pensions pothole we are about to fall into.

Apparently we are on a gold plated pension scheme. I don’t know about you, but the shine has definitely rubbed off from where I am standing right now.

For more on why you should be worried about your pension watch this video recorded at the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting: