PM says pension change will reduce NHS backlog through extra hours – but figures show only 105 doctors retired early last year
A tax cut for wealthy pensioners will bring down NHS waiting lists, Rishi Sunak has insisted – but he did not say how many doctors would stay in their jobs because of it.
Criticism has mounted over the move to scrap the lifetime allowance in the spring budget, which Labour has branded a “tax giveaway to the wealthiest 1%”.
Under the plans, people will be allowed to put aside as much as they can in their private pension scheme without being taxed – removing the £1.07m limit.
Ministers have insisted that it will encourage senior doctors to stay in the workforce for longer, but doubts have been raised after the government’s own data suggested only 105 of them left the NHS due to early retirement last year.
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When it was put to the prime minister only hundreds of doctors might stay on he told BBC Breakfast: “It’s not just about whether they leave or stay; it’s about whether they’re doing the extra shifts, because that’s what’s going to help us get the backlog down.”
Mr Sunak said “thousands of doctors” leave the NHS every year, and “about two-thirds to three-quarters of them have said that they don’t provide extra hours” due to the pension rules.
“The key thing is I want to get the waiting lists down. I think everyone watching who has a family member waiting on NHS waiting lists will want that person – grandmother, grandparent, aunt, uncle – to get that treatment as quickly as possible. Because of this change we’re going to be able to do that.”
However, he did not say how many doctors removing the £1m tax-free threshold could entice back, only that “overall we think about 12,000 people will be working more in the workforce”.
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In response to a written question from Labour last November, health minister Will Quince provided statistics showing 105 doctors left the NHS due to early retirement in 2021/2022.
However, there were warnings of a mass exodus after a survey from the British Medical Association (BMA) last year showed 44% of consultants were threatening to leave in the next 12 months, blaming “a decade of pay erosion and punitive pension taxation”.
The union has welcomed changes to the pension rules, with Committee chair Vish Sharma saying: “The scrapping of the lifetime allowance will be potentially transformative for the NHS as [the majority of] senior doctors will no longer be forced to retire early and can continue to work within the NHS, providing vital patient care.”
He added that the changes will also “reduce the perverse incentive to reduce hours due to pension tax”.
In the spring budget it was also announced that the annual tax-free pension savings allowance would increase by 50% to £60,000.
The department of health suggested 22,000 senior NHS clinicians could have exceed the previous £40,000 allowance, while around 31,000 clinicians had reached at least 75% of the £1.073 million lifetime allowance
How will the NHS pay offer be funded?
During his interview, Mr Sunak was also unable to say how the revised NHS pay offer announced last week will be funded.
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The government has put forward a revised 5% pay offer to NHS staff
Unions reached the deal with the government in a major breakthrough that saw NHS staff offered a one-off payment of 2% of their salary plus a COVID recovery bonus of 4% for the current financial year 2022/23, and a 5% pay increase for 2023/24.
Asked if this is new money, Mr Sunak said: “The NHS does have new money, yes.”
Pressed further, he said: “We’re just about to start the financial year and the NHS and social care will have £14bn more over the next couple of years.”
Mr Sunak was then quizzed on whether the money would come out of that existing budget.
He replied: “People want to know the NHS is well-funded, but what’s also important is how we use that money.”
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The deal with health unions came after months of ministers saying there was no cash to meet their demands, arguing the money would have to come out of frontline services.
Downing Street has insisted the offer – which will require the government to find £4bn in spare cash – will not impact frontline services, saying “areas of underspend” had been identified.
Rwanda deportations ‘will begin once court proceedings have concluded’
Mr Sunak was also grilled on targets for his “stop the boats” plan.
He said “no illegal immigration is acceptable” and his new bill – to ban people claiming asylum if they come to the UK through unauthorised means – “is about fairness”.
Asked whether that means stopping all boats, he said: “That’s what we’re trying to do. I don’t think anyone would sit here and say to you that they tolerate any illegal migration.”
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The home secretary toured Rwanda at the weekend
On whether he could get the number of Channel crossings to zero, he said: “People will be able to judge me by my actions at the next election – I’m perfectly confident about that.”
The prime minister said deporting migrants to Rwanda will begin once court proceedings have concluded.
When it was put to him that Home Secretary Suella Braverman has suggested flights will start this summer, Mr Sunak said: “No, that’s not what she said, and what she said actually was that when the court process has concluded, then we’ll be able to start flights as quickly as we can.
“But ultimately we have to go through the court process, policies being challenged. We won the first battle of those and we’ll continue to defend the policy.”
Pakistan has launched attacks on “multiple targets” across India, according to the media wing of Pakistan’s military.
Pakistan said in a statement that retaliatory attacks are underway in response to what it called “continuous provocation” by India, which fired missiles at three air bases inside Pakistan.
“Multiple targets in this operation are being engaged all across India,” the statement from Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF) said.
Pakistan’s military said it used medium-range Fateh missiles to strike more than 25 military sites, including airbases and weapons depots in the Indian states of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan, as well as locations in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan’s military posted footage on X showing missiles being fired from what appeared to be a mobile launcher.
Pic: MilitaryPakISPR
The AP news agency also said loud explosions have been heard in India-administered Kashmir, in the disputed region’s two big cities of Srinagar and Jammu, and the garrison town of Udhampur.
Meanwhile, an Indian military source told Reuters that India has launched air operations in Pakistan, although no further details were given.
The operations mark the latest escalation in a conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals, triggered by a deadly attack last month in India-administered Kashmir.
Most of the 26 civilians killed were Hindu Indian tourists. India blames Pakistan for backing the assault, an accusation Islamabad rejects.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Command Authority, the body which takes security decisions, including those related to the country’s nuclear arsenal.
State-run Pakistan television said three air bases were struck by India on Friday, although Pakistan insisted most of the missiles had been intercepted.
Despite the military offensive, PAF also posted a message on X in what appeared to represent an opportunity to de-escalate the situation.
“Now that a response has been given we hope the neighbour [India] will move to dialogue and diplomacy like Civilized Nations,” it said.
In recent days, both countries have launched a series of missile and drone strikes, although the scale and impact have been consistently questioned by each other.
On Wednesday, India conducted airstrikes on several sites in Pakistani territory. Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets.
On Thursday, India claimed to have repelled drone and missile attacks at military targets in more than a dozen cities and towns, including Jammu in India-administered Kashmir. Meanwhile, India claimed it struck Pakistan’s air defence systems and radars close to the city of Lahore.
A damaged house in Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir, after a Pakistani drone attack. Pic: AP
The Indian army said on Friday that Pakistan fired about 300 to 400 drones, targeting military installations along the western borders – a claim strongly denied by Pakistan.
The G7 group of advanced economies, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and Britain, urged maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan.
“We call for immediate de-escalation and encourage both countries to engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome,” a statement issued on Friday said.
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World
European leaders to meet in Ukraine for ‘coalition of the willing’ talks – and issue call to Russia
Sir Keir Starmer will join other European leaders in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on the “coalition of the willing”.
The prime minister is attending the event alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
It will be the first time the leaders of the four countries will travel to Ukraine at the same time – on board a train to Kyiv – with their meeting hosted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz travelling in the saloon car of a special train to Kiev. Pic: Reuters
Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for the coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir, Mr Macron, Mr Tusk and Mr Merz released a joint statement voicing support for Ukraine and calling on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.
Sir Keir and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in March. Pic: AP
“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they said.
“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”
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The leaders said they were “ready to support peace talks as soon as possible”.
But they warned that they would continue to “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine” until Moscow agrees to a lasting ceasefire.
“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognised borders for generations to come,” their statement added.
“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine.”
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The European leaders are set to visit the Maidan, a central square in Ukraine’s capital where flags represent those who died in the war.
They are also expected to host a virtual meeting for other leaders in the “coalition of the willing” to update them on progress towards a peacekeeping force.
This force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, according to Number 10.
World
Ten explosions near international airport in India-administered part of Kashmir, officials say
Ten explosions have been heard near Srinagar International Airport in India-administered parts of Kashmir, officials have told Reuters news agency.
The blasts followed blackouts caused by multiple projectiles, which were seen in the sky above the city of Jammu earlier on Friday.
Explosions were also heard in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, in the neighbouring Punjab state, according to Reuters.
An Indian military official told the agency that “drones have been sighted” and “they are being engaged”.
It comes as tensions between India and Pakistan across the line of control around the region of Kashmir have boiled over this week, leading to fears of a wider conflict.
On Wednesday morning, India carried out missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered parts of the disputed region.
The retaliation came weeks after 26 people, mainly Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen in an India-administered part of Kashmir last month.
The government in India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites, while Pakistan said it was not involved in the April attack and the sites were not militant bases.
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Explained: India-Pakistan conflict
Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides – which have not been independently verified.
India also suspended its top cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, as a result of rising tensions, while the Pakistan Super League moved the remainder of its season to the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a conference on Friday that the US is in constant contact with both India and Pakistan.
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