Biting back with Arthur Dent
It’s time to CARE M
any years ago, when Arthur was a fresh-faced, newly-qualified young dentist, he
didn’t give much thought to such things as superannuation and pensions. In common with most young dentists, he considered that retirement was a long time away and he was reassured by older, wiser colleagues that the NHS pension scheme was “one of the best” and could not be equalled in the private sector. Now the years have rolled by and
in more recent times Arthur has become pensive about pensions; retirement might not exactly be imminent, but it’s surprising how much more interesting such things as ‘exit strategy’ can become with age. This interest has also coincided with the UK government’s proposed changes to the NHS pension scheme and other public sector pensions. An update has recently been
released on discussions (HM Government is quite clear that these are NOT negotiations) between the public sector unions including the BDA and the government. This is being termed the ‘Heads
of Agreement’, although the BDA and other unions are quite clear that this is NOT an agreement, simply proposals to be put to their members. By now you should be realising that the tone of these discussions is not exactly cordial. The government’s proposals are something of a ‘triple whammy’ to dentists. Firstly, they intend to increase dentists’ contributions by 6 per cent over the next three years, starting with a probable 2.4 per cent increase from 1 April this year. Secondly, they wish to change final salary schemes to career average revalued earnings (CARE); this will affect salaried dentists detrimentally but will not impact on GDPs who have always had a CARE scheme. Thirdly, and probably worst of all,
they propose to change the normal retirement age of 60 and align it with the state pension age: that is currently 65, but will eventually rise to 68! Dentistry is an intense, diffi- cult and stressful profession that is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding. Most retired dentists consider themselves to have been fortunate if they reach age 60 with their health reasonably intact. The prospect of being FORCED
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“Most retired dentists consider themselves to have been for- tunate if they reach age 60 with their health reasonably intact”
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Column
to continue to age 68 is worse than daunting, and which of us would choose to receive our dental care from a reluctant and disillusioned 67-year-old dentist with chronic back pain, failing eyesight and a series of nervous tics? So, is there any hope for dentists
in all of this? Well, dentists aged 50 or over on 1 April 2012 will have their current pension age and terms protected, but they will still have to pay the increased contributions; dentists in their very late 40s will have some limited abatements to the changes. Younger dentists will bear the full brunt of these draconian changes. For dentists in Scotland there is
one slight glimmer of hope: the NHS pension scheme in Scotland has always been separate from England and Wales, although in practice it has always followed the E&W scheme. The Scottish Government does have the power to make its own decisions on public pensions here. Dentists in Scotland, particularly
younger dentists who might never have given much thought to their future pensions, must now get interested, get active, get angry and GET MILITANT!
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www.scottishdentalmag.co.uk Scottish Dental magazine 5
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