Your NHS Locum Pension Guide: Secure Your Future Earnings

Yes, you can often pay into the NHS Pension Scheme while working as a locum, but it depends entirely on how you are employed. If you work bank shifts directly for an NHS trust, your work is usually pensionable. However, if you work through a private agency, it typically is not, and specific rules apply for GP locums.

How the NHS Pension Scheme works

Before we dive into the specifics of locum work, it’s helpful to understand the scheme you’d be joining. Since 2015, all new and most existing members of the NHS pension belong to the 2015 Scheme. It’s a ‘defined benefit’ scheme, which means your retirement income is based on your earnings and length of service, not investment performance.

The 2015 Scheme is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme. This is how it works:

• Each year, you build up a pension worth 1/54th of your pensionable pay for that year.
• This amount is added to your personal pension pot.
• Every year, while you're still an active member, the total pot is revalued (increased) to keep up with inflation, plus an extra 1.5%. This protects your savings from losing value over time.
• The normal pension age in the 2015 Scheme is the same as your State Pension age.

If you were a member of the NHS pension before 2015, you might have benefits in the older 1995 or 2008 sections. These were typically ‘final salary’ schemes. Thanks to a recent change known as the ‘McCloud remedy’, eligible members will get to choose between their old scheme’s benefits or the 2015 Scheme’s benefits for the period between April 2015 and March 2022 when they retire.

Pensioning your work: Bank vs. Agency vs. GP Locum

Whether your locum income is pensionable depends on your employment status. The key question is: who pays your wages? This determines whether you’re eligible for the NHS scheme.

Bank Work

Working on an NHS trust’s internal bank is the most straightforward way for a locum to contribute to the NHS pension. When you work bank shifts, you are paid directly by the NHS employer through their payroll system. In this scenario, you are treated as a trust employee, and you should be automatically enrolled into the NHS Pension Scheme, just like any permanent member of staff. Your contributions will be deducted from your payslip automatically.

Agency Work

This is where things differ significantly. If you find work through a private recruitment agency, you are employed by the agency, not by the NHS. Because of this, your shifts are not eligible for the NHS Pension Scheme. The agency is required by law to provide a workplace pension, so you will likely be auto-enrolled into their chosen scheme, which is usually a ‘defined contribution’ plan. This is a different type of pension where your savings are invested, and the final amount depends on contributions and investment growth.

GP Locums

General Practice locums have a unique, paper-based system for pensioning their NHS income. As a self-employed practitioner, you are responsible for managing your own pension contributions. This is done using two key forms:

• Locum Form A: This is your invoice to the GP practice, detailing your earnings for the work completed. You keep a copy for your records.
• Locum Form B: This is a monthly summary of all your locum income. You must send this form, along with your total pension contribution (both your employee share and the employer share), to your NHS commissioning body (e.g., NHS England).

There are strict time limits for this process. You must ensure your forms and payment arrive within 10 weeks of the end of the month in which you were paid for the work. It’s a system that requires meticulous record-keeping.

Your contributions and benefits explained

As a member of the scheme, you contribute a percentage of your pensionable pay each month. This rate is tiered based on your annual earnings. For locums, the rate is determined by your actual pay, not a whole-time equivalent figure.

Here are the contribution tiers scheduled to take effect from 1 April 2025. You can check the current rates on the NHS Employers website.

One of the most valuable parts of the scheme is the employer contribution. For every pound you put in, your NHS employer contributes significantly more. The current employer rate is 23.7% of your pensionable pay. This is a huge benefit that you miss out on if your work isn’t pensionable.

A worked example

Let’s imagine a Band 6 nurse, Aisha, who works regular bank shifts at her local hospital. In one month, her pensionable pay from these shifts is £3,500.

• Finding her rate: Her payroll team annualises her earnings for that month (£3,500 x 12 = £42,000) to find her contribution tier. This puts her in the 9.8% tier.
• Her contribution: Aisha contributes 9.8% of her actual pay: £3,500 x 9.8% = £343.
• Pension earned: She adds 1/54th of her pay to her pension pot: £3,500 / 54 = £64.81. This amount will grow with revaluation each year until she retires.
• Employer contribution: The trust contributes 23.7% of her pay on her behalf: £3,500 x 23.7% = £829.50. This is paid into the scheme to fund her benefits, demonstrating the immense value of being a member.

How to ensure your locum work is pensioned correctly

Staying on top of your pension is vital, especially with the variable nature of locum work. Here are some practical steps you can take:

• Check your payslips: If you're a bank worker, your payslip is your first port of call. Make sure you can see a deduction for ‘NHS Pension’. If it’s missing, speak to your trust’s payroll or pensions department immediately.
• GP Locums - be organised: Download the latest versions of Locum Forms A and B from the NHS Pensions website. Keep a detailed spreadsheet of your income, the practices you've worked at, and the dates you submitted your forms. Set calendar reminders for the 10-week deadline.
• Keep good records: Whether you're applying for a mortgage or a new permanent role, being able to show a consistent work history is important. Keeping all your locum payslips and contracts organised will make it easier to build a strong CV. Tools like our Pro CV Builder can help you structure this information effectively.
• Review your Annual Benefit Statement: Every year, you can access a statement that shows how much pension you’ve built up. Check this carefully to ensure all your pensioned service has been recorded. If you notice any gaps from your bank work, raise it with the relevant trust.

Is pensioning your locum work worth it?

For the vast majority of people, the answer is a resounding yes. While contributing to a pension reduces your immediate take-home pay, the long-term benefits are hard to overstate.

The main advantage is the employer contribution. It’s an enormous boost to your retirement savings that you simply don’t get otherwise. Secondly, the NHS scheme provides a guaranteed, inflation-linked income for life once you retire, offering security that investment-based pensions cannot match.

Furthermore, membership isn't just about your retirement. It also includes valuable ancillary benefits, such as:

• Life assurance: A lump-sum payment is made to your loved ones if you die while in service.
• Ill-health retirement benefits: If you have to stop working due to illness, you may be able to access your pension early.
• Survivor benefits: A pension for a surviving partner or dependent children.

The main drawback is the administrative burden, particularly for GP locums. However, with good organisation, this is manageable. For high earners, there can be complex tax implications to consider, so seeking independent financial advice is always a good idea if you are in that position.

Key takeaways

• Work on an NHS trust's bank is usually pensionable, and you should be auto-enrolled.
• Work through a private agency is generally not pensionable in the NHS scheme.
• GP locums must use a specific paper-based system (Forms A and B) to pension their income and must meet strict deadlines.
• Your contribution rate is based on your actual earnings in a pay period.
• The 23.7% employer contribution is a major benefit that significantly boosts your retirement savings.
• Always check your payslips and annual pension statements to ensure your service is being recorded correctly.