Press release - BMA to join forces on pension reviews
18 July 2003
The BMA is to take part in a joint NHS trade union working group established to address issues arising from the Government’s green paper on pensions, the Inland Revenue’s proposed simplification of tax regimes and the NHS Pension Scheme Modernisation review.
As these issues have some common ground, a meeting of the NHS trade unions has decided to combine their experience and collaborate in each of the three areas.
Mark Belchamber, Head of the BMA’s Superannuation Department and Dr Simon Fradd, Chairman of the BMA’s Superannuation Committee, this week attended the first ad-hoc pensions meeting at the TUC.
The trade unions will seek agreement on the major issues that affect members across the working group and discuss these directly. Separate issues that affect specific groups only, for example GPs, will be handled through individual discussions between the BMA and the relevant government agency.
Dr Fradd said “There is a huge concern amongst NHS staff that changes in the Pension Scheme will be to their detriment. By combining with the other NHS trade unions we are able to increase our bargaining power to achieve a satisfactory outcome for all NHS pension scheme members, whilst still maintaining our lines of communication to resolve specific BMA members concerns”
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