NHS Pensions
How the NHS Pension Is Calculated: 1995, 2008 and 2015 Schemes Explained
Your NHS pension can be built from up to three schemes — the 1995 and 2008 sections and the 2015 scheme — and they calculate benefits in different ways. For hospital (secondary-care) doctors the 1995 and 2008 sections are final salary; for GPs and other primary-care practitioners they are practitioner career-average (CARE); and the 2015 scheme is a career-average (CARE) scheme that everyone now builds up in. The headline accrual rates are 1/80 (1995, plus an automatic 3/80 lump sum), 1/60 (2008) and 1/54 of each year's pay (2015, revalued at CPI + 1.5%). This guide explains each one and how to estimate what you'll get. You can model your own figures with our NHS Pension Calculator.
The three NHS pension schemes at a glance
Which section you built up in depends on when you joined NHS service. The 1995 section closed to new members in 2008; the 2008 section ran until the 2015 reforms; and the 2015 CARE scheme is where all active members now accrue benefits, following the McCloud changes. Many doctors therefore hold a "deferred" final-salary pension in an older section plus a growing 2015 pension — both are paid to you, just calculated separately.
How each scheme builds your pension
For secondary-care (hospital) doctors, the 1995 section pays a pension of 1/80 of final pensionable pay for each year of membership, plus an automatic tax-free lump sum of 3/80 per year, with a normal pension age of 60; the 2008 section pays 1/60 of final pay per year, normal pension age 65, with no automatic lump sum (you can exchange pension for one). GPs and other primary-care practitioners build 1995/2008 benefits differently — on a practitioner career-average basis (broadly 1.4% of revalued career earnings per year) rather than final salary — and doctors with mixed hospital and GP service can have both methods applied. The 2015 scheme is career-average for everyone: each year you earn 1/54 of that year's pensionable pay as pension, each slice revalued every year (currently CPI + 1.5% while you are active) until retirement — its normal pension age is age 65 or your State Pension age, whichever is later.
Why most doctors are now in the 2015 scheme
Following the McCloud remedy, members who had been kept in the 1995/2008 sections were treated as building 2015 benefits from 1 April 2022, removing the earlier age discrimination. For service between 2015 and 2022 (the "remedy period") affected members get a choice of which section's benefits apply, generally made at retirement. So if you are mid-career, expect an older-section slice (final salary for hospital doctors, practitioner CARE for GPs) plus a 2015 CARE pension — and a choice to make for the years in between. Crucially, your legacy benefits keep their link to your pay near retirement (the "final salary link" for hospital doctors) provided you do not have a break in pensionable membership of more than five years.
Estimating your own NHS pension
A rough estimate combines each part: final-salary years × accrual rate × final pay, plus the revalued total of your 2015 CARE slices. Because pay growth, revaluation and your retirement age all change the result, the easiest way to see realistic figures — including any existing benefits you've already built up — is to enter your details into our NHS Pension Calculator. For decisions about retirement timing, the McCloud choice or annual allowance tax, it's worth speaking to a specialist; you can read more about NHS pension advice for doctors.
This article is general information for medical professionals and is not personal financial advice. Figures relate to the 2026/27 UK tax year and may change. Professional Medical Financial is an introducer that matches you with FCA-regulated advisers; any regulated advice is provided by those firms. The value of investments can fall as well as rise. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up mortgage repayments. NHS and other defined-benefit pensions provide valuable guaranteed benefits and transferring out is unlikely to be suitable for most people.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on when you joined and your age. The 1995 and 2008 sections are now closed to future build-up; since 1 April 2022 all active members build benefits in the 2015 CARE scheme. Many longer-serving doctors therefore have benefits split across an older section and the 2015 scheme.
For secondary-care (hospital) doctors the 1995 and 2008 sections are 'final salary' — your pension is based on your pensionable pay near retirement. For GPs and other primary-care practitioners those sections are calculated on a practitioner career-average basis instead. The 2015 scheme is 'career average revalued earnings' (CARE) for everyone — you build a slice of pension each year based on that year's pay, revalued each year until retirement.
Normal pension age is 60 for the 1995 section, 65 for the 2008 section, and, for the 2015 scheme, age 65 or your State Pension age, whichever is later. You can usually take benefits earlier with an actuarial reduction, or later with an increase.