Reminder to staff who have retired and returned – substantive and bank – change to NHS pension scheme rule from 01 April 2023

Any member of staff who has already claimed age or voluntary early retirement benefits from the 1995 section of the NHS pension scheme is able to re-join the 2015 NHS pension scheme.

If you wish to do this, please email sdhc.pensions@nhs.net from your nhs.net email account (include your full name, date of birth, assignment/national insurance number).

If you have been paying into another pension scheme e.g. NEST and wish to apply to transfer these benefits into the NHS scheme you must do so within 12 months of being eligible to join the NHS pension. For staff who retired and returned before 01 April 2023 a transfer application would therefore need to be submitted before 31 March 2024, for those returning after 01 April 2023 the deadline would be a year from your return date.

Any employee who claims age or voluntary early retirement from 01 April 2023 onwards will automatically be put into the NHS Pension Scheme (2015) if they return to work. If they do not wish to join they must complete an opting out form (SD502) found on the NHS pensions website once completed this should be sent to the pensions department. If we receive this after two months of contributions have been deducted from your wages a refund will not be possible.