Peter Lazenby
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THOUSANDS of nurses are pulling out of the NHS pension fund because they can no longer afford the contributions, their union said today.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which is balloting more than 300,000 members on strike action over pay, said the number of nurses leaving the pension scheme has doubled in the last year.
From April to July this year 66,167 NHS staff in England and Wales opted out of the pension fund, said the RCN.
The number is more than double the number opting out in the same period last year — 30,270.
They include 4,000 nurses, and in the last 12 months almost 12,000 nurses have abandoned the pension scheme.
The figures come from the NHS Business Services Authority, but the RCN says the number is “just the tip of the iceberg” and that even greater numbers of nursing staff are likely to have opted out.
Nurse and RCN member Jodie Elliott, from London, said her family was “horrified” when she had to opt out of the pensions scheme because she could not afford it.
“My family had always drilled into me the importance of securing my financial future, but every single month I was getting to the bottom of both my overdrafts despite being extremely careful,” she said.
“I work full-time and despite constantly picking up extra work, I just couldn’t make ends meet. I had no choice but to leave the scheme.”
RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “It is a sad day when the people who care for this country from cradle to grave don’t earn enough to provide for their own future.
“A lifetime of service should never mean a lifetime of poverty.
“Some nurses are having to use food banks just to get by. Many are leaving the profession and ultimately it’s patients who are suffering — the nursing workforce crisis means care is being left undone and is putting patients at risk.
“A simple way to recruit and retain more staff is to pay them fairly. But ministers haven’t listened and we’re now having to consider strike action.”
The RCN is balloting its members on strike action over pay for the first time in the union’s 106-year history.
