Check your NHS pension

The advice comes from David Paul, a specialist Chartered Accountant who gave an update on pensions at the NASDAL press conference this month.

He began by looking back on the events of the last few years and he identified the difficulties the profession have had to contend with in relation to their pension. They are the dental contract introduced in April 2006, dental incorporation and multi-tiering of superannuation contributions.

He explained that the new dental contract saw the responsibility for administration of superannuation and pensionable pay devolved from NHS Business Services at Eastbourne to the contract holder, at practice level. It became the responsibility of principals to fill in an Annual Reconciliation Report (ARR),which is a statutory form which details the pensionable earnings of every dentist at the practice.

David says there was insufficient guidance to help providers fulfill their new responsiblities. As a result, the majority of ARRs were not filled in accurately. The Pensions Agency has since identified at least 3,000 performers whose pensionable earnings have been substantially understated and it’s likely there are more who have been affected.