FOI-03253

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

##Request 

<p><i>‘I am writing to request anonymised data under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding unpaid NHS pension benefits. This request is intended to understand the scale and characteristics of members who have accrued pension entitlements but have not yet received payment.</i></p>

<p><i>Please provide the following anonymised data for all members who currently have any unpaid NHS pension benefits:</i></p>

<p><i>Requested Data Columns:</i></p>

<p><i>Column A – UniqueID: A randomly assigned unique identifier for each member</i></p>

<p><i>Column B – Gender: Gender of the pension member</i></p>

<p><i>Column C – Age: Current age of the member</i></p>

<p><i>Column D – Employment Type: Assigned based on the following priority order: GP, GDP, Hospital Doctor, Hospital Dentist, Special Class Nurse, Non-Special Class Nurse, Officer</i></p>

<p><i>Column E – 1995 Pension Entitlement: Current value of unpaid pension entitlement accrued in the 1995 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column F – 1995 Lump Sum Entitlement: Current value of unpaid lump sum entitlement accrued in the 1995 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column G – 2008 Pension Entitlement: Current value of unpaid pension entitlement accrued in the 2008 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column H – 2008 Lump Sum Entitlement: Current value of unpaid lump sum entitlement accrued in the 2008 section (including Pension Choices members)</i></p>

<p><i>Column I – 2015 Pension Entitlement: Current value of unpaid pension entitlement accrued in the 2015 scheme</i></p>

<p><i>Column J – 1995 Pension Entitlement (Paid): Current value of paid pension entitlement accrued in the 1995 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column K – 1995 Lump Sum Entitlement (Paid): Current value of paid lump sum entitlement accrued in the 1995 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column L – 2008 Pension Entitlement (Paid): Current value of paid pension entitlement accrued in the 2008 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column M – 2008 Lump Sum Entitlement (Paid): Current value of paid lump sum entitlement accrued in the 2008 section</i></p>

<p><i>Column N – 2015 Pension Entitlement (Paid): Current value of paid pension entitlement accrued in the 2015 scheme</i></p>

<p><i>Column O – Membership Status: Whether the member is currently Active or Deferred</i></p>

<p><i>Column P – McCloud Flag: Yes/No – Whether the member joined the 1995/2008 scheme before 31 March 2012 and has membership during the remedy period</i></p>

<p><i>Column Q – Contingent Decision Flag: Yes/No – For members with a McCloud Flag of “Yes”, whether they had any opted-out service during the remedy period</i></p>

<p><i>If possible, please also include:</i></p>

<p><i>The total number of members with unpaid pension benefits</i></p>

<p><i>Aggregated totals by employment type and age band’</i></p>

##[On 13 November 2025 you clarified your request as follows] 

<p><i>‘Thank you for your email regarding clarification of my FOI request. Please see my responses below:</i></p>

<p><i>Multiple Entries per Member</i></p>
<p><i>Yes, please list each member separately for each pension scheme in which they have unpaid benefits. The same Unique ID should be used across entries for the same individual to maintain consistency.</i></p>

<p><i>Scope of Members</i></p>
<p><i>I confirm that the request should include all active and deferred members, even if they are decades away from retirement. This should also include members classified as “active/deferred pensioners.”</i></p>

<p><i>Contingent Decision Flag (Column Q)</i></p>
<p><i>Please include all members who are eligible to make a contingent decision (i.e., those with opted-out service during the remedy period), not only those who have actively applied.</i></p>

<p><i>Columns E–N (Current Values)</i></p>
<p><i>I understand that current values of unpaid and paid pension entitlements are not held in a format that allows direct extraction. If these figures cannot be provided, please proceed with the remaining requested columns and aggregated totals where possible.’</i></p>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 9 October 2025, with clarification received on 13 November 2025.  

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). 

##Our response 

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested, and a copy of the information is attached. 

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data. 

Members will be reported once for each section or scheme they have contributed to which remains unclaimed and for which a benefit entitlement exists.  

The Member Status provided reflects the overall member status, not their status in the specific section or scheme. For example, they may show as ‘Active’ due to contributing to 2015 Scheme but concurrently have deferred 1995 Section membership. 

Employment is defined based on the member’s employment type. In the event a member has multiple posts which fall into different categories, the category is assigned in the priority order below: 

##[Practitioners] 

General Practitioner – An employment marked as having capacity code 03 (Medical Staff) or 10 (Ophthalmic Practitioner), and Employment Type 5 (Principal Practitioner), 6 (Assistant Practitioner) or 9 (GP Locum/ Locum Practitioner) 

General Dental Practitioner – An employment marked as having capacity code 08 (Dental Staff), and Employment Type 5 (Principal Practitioner), 6 (Assistant Practitioner) or 9 (GP Locum/ Locum Practitioner) 

##[Officers] 

Hospital Doctor – An employment marked as having capacity code 03 (Medical Staff) or 10 (Ophthalmic Practitioner), and Employment Type 2 (Non-Specialist) or 3 (Specialist) 

Hospital Dentist – An employment marked as having capacity code 08 (Dental Staff), and Employment Type 2 (Non-Specialist) or 3 (Specialist) 

Special Class Nurse – An employment marked as capacity code 01 (Nurse (excluding Nursery Nurse), Midwife, Health Visitor, Physiotherapist) or 02 (Nurse Tutor), and Employment Type 7 (Restructuring Special Class) 

Non-Special Class Nurse – An employment marked as capacity code 01 (Nurse (excluding Nursery Nurse), Midwife, Health Visitor, Physiotherapist) or 02 (Nurse Tutor), and NOT Employment Type 7 (Restructuring Special Class) 

Officer – All other combinations of Capacity Code and Employment Type not detailed above.  

Additional Capacity Codes not detailed above are 04 (Others (non-manual – APC)) and 05 (Others (manual – APC)) 

Additional Employment Types not detailed above are 1 (Officer) and 4 (Bed Fund) 

##Data Queries 

Please contact <a href=mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a> 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 <a href=mailto:communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>. 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”. 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 Pension Benefits, NHS Pensions
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log