FOI-03068

Thank you for your request for information about the following:

##Request

_1. Retire and Return:
For each of the last five scheme years (2019/20 to 2023/24, and provisional figures for 2024/25 if available):_

_The number of members who have taken their NHS Pension Scheme benefits in full and subsequently re-joined the scheme (“retire and return”)_

_A breakdown of these figures by age band (e.g. under 55, 55–59, 60–64, 65+)_

_A breakdown by staff group or role type if held (e.g. consultant, GP, nurse, other clinical, non-clinical)_

_2. Partial Retirement:_
_For each month or quarter since the April 2023 rule change allowing partial retirement without leaving employment:_

_The number of members who have taken partial retirement_

_A breakdown of these figures by age band_

_A breakdown by staff group or role type if held_

_3. Redundancy_

_For each of the same periods, the number of NHS employees who were made redundant and whose redundancy payment was reduced or adjusted due to NHS Pension Scheme rules_

On the 2 September 2025 you clarified the following:

__Retire and Return__
 
Q. We are unable to identify members who have returned to NHS employment after claiming their pension benefits, unless they have actively rejoined the NHS Pension Scheme. Even in such cases, this would not be distinguishable from members who have claimed decoupled benefits while contributing to a separate period of service. 
 
Therefore, could you please confirm whether you are specifically seeking data on members who have rejoined the scheme after claiming benefits, or if you are open to receiving data on members who have claimed benefits only? 
 
_A.rejoined the scheme after claiming benefits_
 
 
__Partial Retirement__
 
Q. We can provide data on members who have taken partial retirement since the April 2023 rule change, broken down by age and staff group (using our standard capacity codes). 

To proceed, could you please specify the age bands you would like us to use for this breakdown? 

A.
 
•	_Under 55_
•	_55–59_
•	_60–64_
•	_65 and over_
 
__Redundancy__
 
Q. We hold data on members who have claimed a redundancy award, but not on the total number of NHS employees made redundant. 
 
1.	Could you clarify what you mean by “each of the same periods”? The periods referenced in questions 1 and 2 differ, so we want to ensure we align with your intended timeframe. 
 
_A.  For each of the last five scheme years_
 
2.	Additionally, could you elaborate on what you mean by “redundancy payment was reduced or adjusted due to NHS Pension Scheme rules”? There are several scenarios where pension benefits and redundancy payments interact, and a clearer definition will help us identify relevant data. 
 
_A. we are referring to cases where pension entitlement or scheme rules may have impacted the amount of redundancy compensation received—such as where early access to pension benefits offsets or reduces redundancy payments. If you can provide data on instances where redundancy awards were affected by pension scheme interactions_

#Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested, and a copy of the information is attached.

__Question 1:__

•	members are in scope if they claimed benefits with a payable date between 01/04/2020 and 31/03/2025, followed by taking a break from the scheme of at least 24 hours, before subsequently commencing a new contributing post. Members may not still be in active employment today.
•	Members may be counted up to one time in each scheme year

__Question 2:__

•	members are in scope if they claimed at least one partial retirement award with a payable date on or after 01/10/2023.
•	Members may be counted up to one time in each month

__Question 3:__

The NHSBSA does hold the requested information; however, we estimate that the cost of compliance with the request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA. 

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.  

Please see the following calculations which sets out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:

There are 421 records that need manual interrogation, it would take approximately 10 minutes per record. 

421 records×10 minutes per record=4210 minutes (70 Hours)

Please be advised that due to the way that the information is held by the NHSBSA, it is not possible to submit a refined request under the appropriate limit.

Please see the following link to view the section 12 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12

•	members are in scope if they claimed at least one redundancy award with a payable date between 01/04/2020 and 31/03/2025.
•	Members may be counted up to one time in each scheme year

Members may be counted in all three question groups.

Employment type is defined based on a members entire employment history; they may not have been working in that respective type at the time of retirement. 

Members may work in different capacities throughout their employment history (even concurrently) but will only be assigned one Employment Type in the following priority order: GP, GDP, Hospital Doctor, Hospital Dentist, Special Class Nurse, Non-Special Class Nurse, Officer.

Age brackets are based on age at payable date.

__Data Queries__

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

__Reusing the data and copyright__

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ 

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement:
“NHSBSA Copyright 2025” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ 

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated.  Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.



Tags: nhs pensions
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log