The UK Government has confirmed it has no plans to lower the pension age for ambulance service workers, responding to a petition signed by nearly 20,000 people.
Petition calls for parity with police and firefighters
The online petition, created by Barbara Elizabeth Whitehead, called for ambulance workers under the NHS scheme to have a pension age of 60, the same as police officers and firefighters. It attracted 19,787 signatures before closing on October 2, passing the 10,000-signature threshold required for a formal Government response.
The petition argued that ambulance staff face similar stresses and dangers to police officers and firefighters and should therefore have comparable pension arrangements.
Government response and current rules
The Department of Health and Social Care said the NHS Pension Scheme already provides members with several options to retire before their normal pension age. Under the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme, normal pension age is linked to a member's State Pension age, whereas both the 2015 Police Pension Scheme and reformed Firefighters' Pension Scheme have a normal pension age of 60.
The UK Government said: “The normal pension age in the NHS Pension Scheme, including for ambulance staff, is 60 in the 1995 Section, 65 in the 2008 Section, and linked to State Pension age in the 2015 Scheme.”
It said members of the current NHS scheme generally have lower contribution rates and more generous accrual rates than members of the Police and Firefighters' Pension Schemes. The response added that reducing the normal pension age specifically for ambulance staff would result in “significant additional costs” which would have to be met by scheme members, employers, taxpayers or a combination of the three.
Early retirement options
The UK Government stressed that normal pension age does not mean NHS workers are required to continue working until that age. NHS Pension Scheme members can take their pension earlier, although doing so will generally result in an actuarial reduction, meaning they receive a lower annual pension because it is expected to be paid for a longer period.
The response gave the example of a paramedic joining the NHS at 25, working full-time throughout their career and seeing minimal career progression, saying that a person could retire from the age of 62 with a pension equivalent to just over half their pay. The minimum retirement age within the NHS Pension Scheme is currently between 50 and 55 depending on when someone joined. For people who joined the scheme after November 3, 2021, the minimum pension age will increase to 57 in 2028.
Since April 2016, ambulance workers have been able to use the Early Retirement Reduction Buy Out option. This allows members to pay additional pension contributions during their working lives so they can retire up to three years before their normal pension age under the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme without having their retirement benefits reduced. The cost can be shared between the worker and their employer, subject to the employer agreeing to do so.
NHS staff also have other retirement options. Members can retire, take their pension and subsequently return to NHS employment and rejoin the pension scheme to build up further benefits. Partial retirement, introduced in October 2023, allows eligible staff to take pension benefits while continuing to work and accrue further pension. Ill-health retirement can also be available at any age for members unable to continue working because of illness.
