Assessing annual allowance - ready reckoner tool and demonstration

We have set out below the information that you will need to have to hand when using the ready reckoner. We have created a downloadable version of the staff checklist information presented below.

The following documents will help you find all the relevant information:

• Your most recent Annual Benefit Statement(s) (dated 31/03/2024).
• Details of your expected pay and working hours (relative to the full-time equivalent for your role) for the 2024/25 Scheme year.
• Correspondence regarding any additional pension you may have purchased.

Scheme membership

1995/2008 and 2015 membership

If you were a member of the 1995/2008 Scheme, then indicate which section here. If you joined before 1 April 2015, this will apply to you.

Scheme category

If you are not sure which scheme category you are in, you can check your annual benefit statement. If there is a section entitled 'Practitioner Dynamising Sheet' then you are in the practitioner category. If not, you are in the officer category. If you have a mix of officer and practitioner service, then select the category which reflects your main role.

This reckoner is not programmed to handle a mix of officer and practitioner service before April 2015 so may understate pension growth where this is the case.

If you joined on or after 1 April 2015, select the Officer category.

Scheme benefits

1995/2008 pensionable/reckonable service

This can be found on your TRS. This needs to include any added years you have purchased. The ready reckoner does not allow for continuing added years purchases.

2015 Scheme pension to 31/03/2024

This can be found on your TRS (ABS 2015 Scheme) in the table under the standard benefits heading. See the current value of benefits column for your pension amount. If you opted out of the 2015 Scheme before 31/03/2024, your statement may not be updated to this date. If this is the case, you will need to use your most recent 2015 Scheme pension amount. This may slightly underestimate the value of your pension and pension growth.

Have you purchased additional pension (AP)?

Are you contributing towards an AP contract over the 2024/25 tax year?

AP building up over 2024/25 tax year

The value of an AP that will build-up over the 2024/25 tax year. You calculate this as follows:

Total AP being purchased

No. of years over which you will buy this AP

For example, if you have a contract to purchase £500 of AP that you will pay for over five years, then you would use £500 / 5 = £100. Do not enter any AP that you have already fully paid for.

You should refer to correspondence from NHS Pensions relating to the purchase of AP you may have for details.

AP contribution over 2024/25

The total amount that you expect to pay over the 2024/25 tax year towards your current AP contract. If you have a monthly payment plan, use the total (annual) amount that you expect to pay over the 2024/25 tax year. You should refer to correspondence from NHS Pensions relating to the purchase of any AP for this information.

Pay for 2023/24

NHS (whole-time equivalent) pensionable/reckonable pay

For 1995 pensionable pay, this is your whole-time equivalent pensionable pay as stated in your 31 March 2024 TRS (do not enter your actual 'part-time' pensionable pay).

For 2008 reckonable pay, we recommend entering your reckonable pay as stated in your 31 March 2023 TRS as the ready reckoner does not allow for any three-year averaging. Reckonable pay is determined using whole-time equivalent pensionable pay figures (do not enter your actual 'part-time' pensionable pay.)

This is needed to estimate your pension at 31/03/2024 and your pension growth over the 2024/25 tax year.

We will assume that this figure determines any 1995/2008 pension that you have built up to 31 March 2024. As highlighted above, if you have 2008 Section membership we recommend that you enter your 2022/23 reckonable pay as the Ready Reckoner does not allow for any three-year averaging.

Estimated pay for 2024/25

Total (actual) NHS gross pay and other taxable income

This is your total NHS gross pay (rather than NHS taxable pay as that excludes your pension contributions) and other taxable income that you expect to receive in the 2024/25 tax year that you will pay income tax on. Other taxable income includes, but is not limited to:

• any private practice income
• rental income
• investment income
• any other taxable income you expect to receive in the 2024/25 tax year.

(Actual) NHS pensionable pay

This is your estimate of the actual (not whole-time equivalent) pay that you expect to receive in the 2024/25 tax year that you will pay pension contributions on. This should be included in the total NHS gross pay and other taxable income you have entered above.

We will assume that this figure determines the pension that you will be building up in the 2024/25 tax year, as well as the rate at which you will pay pension contributions on your pensionable pay.

Percentage of full-time hours worked

If you work full time, this will simply be 100 per cent. If you are part-time, please enter the percentage of full-time hours that you work. If you think you will switch between full and part-time hours over the course of the tax year, you should calculate your average estimated weekly hours over the year as a percentage of your whole-time equivalent weekly hours.

The importance of independent financial advice

Estimated figures from the ready reckoner do not replace and are not expected to match the actual figures from NHS Pensions. Also, the ready reckoner cannot replace what a tax accountant or an independent financial advisor can do. If you are at all uncertain about what to do next, then you should consider seeking professional guidance.

A green or amber rating does not necessarily mean that your pension growth will be under the annual allowance in practice as the outcome depends on your data inputs and there are several limitations as stated throughout the ready reckoner.

A red rating means that we estimate the growth in your projected pension benefits over 2024/25 will exceed the AA. This does not mean that you will necessarily have an AA tax charge to settle and, even if you do, it will often be the case that the scheme still provides good value for the cost of membership.

Helpful signposts

NHS BSA: Annual allowance (member hub)

NHS BSA: Total Reward Statements

HMRC: Annual allowance tax charge calculator

MoneyHelper 

NHS BSA: Jargon buster

The ready reckoner is designed to provide members of the NHS Pension Scheme with:

• a broad insight into their annual allowance position
• an indication as to whether or not the tapered annual allowance may apply to their circumstances
• an estimated breakdown of the total annual cost of scheme membership
• an estimate as to how much their annual NHS Pension is projected to increase by over the next year.

The tool is designed to look at the 2023/24 tax year only.

This guide will help you to:

• be prepared to support staff who are likely to be affected by pensions tax issues
• understand how the ready reckoner can be used by staff to understand their annual allowance position
• communicate with staff about the ready reckoner.

The ready reckoner

The ready reckoner presents staff with a traffic light system to assess the potential risk of breaching their annual allowance. The purpose of the traffic light system is to highlight when an employee can have relative comfort in their position or when they really ought to be seeking independent financial advice. If the employee is projected to be running a risk, then the ready reckoner will trigger either an amber or red signal. However, it will often be the case that the scheme still provides good value for the cost of membership.

The ready reckoner assesses the 2023/24 tax year (ie, 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024), and presents an individual with estimated figures based on their inputs.

Engage with your staff about the ready reckoner

You should engage with staff who are likely to be affected by pension tax issues, provide information on the local options for affected staff that are available and encourage them to use the ready reckoner.

Considerations for engaging with your staff

• Communicate to staff about how they can access and use the ready reckoner to assess their pension tax position.
• Answer queries from staff on how they can use the ready reckoner to estimate their annual allowance pension tax liability. Staff can access a checklist which sets out the information that they will need when using the ready reckoner.
• Enable staff to discuss solutions to any annual allowance tax issues. The output of the ready reckoner can be used to help assess their options to mitigate their pension tax liability. Signpost staff to relevant information and an independent financial advisor where necessary.

Limitations of the ready reckoner

It is vital that staff are aware of the limitations of the ready reckoner. If not, they could end up taking actions or reaching incorrect conclusions that might adversely affect them.

The information provided on the ready reckoner should only be relied on as a guide to what steps staff could consider taking next and not as a definitive statement about their tax position. It is vital that staff seek advice from a tax accountant or an independent financial advisor if they are uncertain about what to do next. The calculations of pensions, pension growth and annual allowance are not simple and vary hugely from one individual to the next. For the purposes of simplification, the ready reckoner makes some assumptions and approximations. The main assumptions and approximations are listed on a summary page, which is generated for the user once all the required data has been inputted. Employers should encourage staff to read the assumptions and approximations carefully to understand how their personal situation could differ to that presented by the ready reckoner.

As well as inputting pensionable pay for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, individuals will be able to add all the taxable income that they expect to receive in the 2023/24 financial year. This includes but is not limited to NHS pay (whether pensionable or not), any private practice income, rental income, investment income, and any other taxable income. All taxable income, whether pensionable, non-pensionable or earned outside of their NHS employment, can affect an individual’s annual allowance.

The importance of independent financial advice

Our research into the impact of pension tax in the NHS shows there is a clear lack of knowledge and understanding about the NHS Pension Scheme and associated tax issues.

An individual’s pension tax position depends on their taxable income from all sources, including employment outside the NHS, investments, and income from rental properties. Pension savings from all pension arrangements including personal pensions and other workplace schemes are counted towards the annual and lifetime allowances. Employees should be strongly advised to seek independent financial advice to ensure their decisions are well informed, based on reliable and accurate information and positioned in the context of their overall individual financial position and long-term plans.

Employers can support staff by signposting to general information and resources to improve understanding and awareness of pensions tax issues. However, it is not appropriate for employers or NHS Pensions to give staff advice on their pension tax position - they are not regulated (by the Financial Conduct Authority) to give advice and they would not have sufficient information about an individual’s financial circumstances to make giving advice appropriate.

We have compiled a list of organisations that are able to give expert guidance and advice for members of the NHS Pension Scheme. This has been developed to support employers to provide access to education, guidance and advice. Please note we are not promoting or recommending the use of any organisation and may amend or update this list at any time.
 

Accessing and using the ready reckoner

The ready reckoner can be accessed by anyone and we encourage employers to become familiar with the ready reckoner so that you can support staff and answer any questions. If a member of staff is concerned that they may breach the annual allowance, we recommend employers direct them to the ready reckoner to estimate their position with regard to the annual allowance. Staff will be able to use the ready reckoner on their desktop, laptop and on their smartphone or tablet.

Staff will not be required to log in to the ready reckoner. We recommend they save the individual summary report for future reference. It is possible to go back to the data input sections to amend data/inputs.

The ready reckoner is user-friendly and presents for staff what they need to know in simple terms, providing guidance and support throughout. Staff will see a series of prompts for entering data into the input sections and will be presented with a series of outputs, including the estimated net cost of scheme membership, annual pension projected to build up in the financial year and their estimated pension input amount.

Most inputs and outputs have a question mark button (tooltip) to help staff understand what they need to input, where they can find the information, or what an output means in more detail.

Share the staff checklist with staff before they use the ready reckoner, so they have all the necessary information to hand before they start.

Staff will need to have the following information to hand:

• Their most recent Annual Benefit Statement(s) (dated 31/03/2023)
• Details of their expected pay and working hours (relative to the full-time equivalent for their role) for the 2023/24 scheme year.
• Correspondence regarding any additional pension they may have purchased.

Outputs and what they mean

The ready reckoner will provide staff with a summary report, which they can save as a PDF document. The summary includes:

A green, amber or red warning

• Green indicates that the employee is projected to be well under the annual allowance.
• Amber indicates that the employee is projected to be reasonably close to the annual allowance, or to an income threshold that may impact tapering.
• Red indicates that the employee is projected to breach the annual allowance. (However, it will often be the case that the scheme still provides good value for the cost of membership.)

A green or amber rating does not necessarily mean that pension growth will be under the annual allowance in practice as the outcome depends on individuals data inputs and there are several limitations as stated throughout the ready reckoner.

We have produced posters that can be used in your organisation to promote the tool to staff. There are two versions to choose from:

Ready reckoner poster version 1 (PDF)

Ready reckoner poster version 2 (PDF)

• A threshold income projection
  Threshold income is taxable income, including earnings from all employment, and income from other sources such as rental properties, investments and pensions, less pension contributions made over the financial year. This will help the individual to identify whether their threshold income is projected to be below the threshold income test level of £200,000 (2023/24), reaching the upper end of this threshold, or is expected to breach the threshold. This will also indicate whether the individual may be subject to annual allowance tapering.
• Pension input amount (PIA)  
  A PIA is the difference between the value of NHS pension benefits at the beginning of the pension input period (the opening value), uprated for inflation over the year, and the end of this period (the closing value). The pension input period is the same as the tax year, 6 April to 5 April.
• What staff can do to further understand the results 
  This includes strongly recommending that they consult an independent financial advisor if they require further advice.