Specialist NHS Pension Accountants for Doctors, Dentists & NHS Staff
The NHS Pension Scheme is one of the best in the country and one of the most misunderstood. Growth is measured on the value of your benefits, not on what you paid in, so a promotion, a merit award or a busy year of extra sessions can create a tax charge that dwarfs your actual pay rise. Our NHS pension accountants calculate your pension input amount, apply carry forward, test the taper, and tell you whether Scheme Pays is the right answer before the deadline passes.
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We advise members across all sections of the scheme, from 1995 and 2008 legacy benefits through to the 2015 career average scheme and the McCloud remedy adjustments that followed.
Type 1 certificates, estimates of pensionable profit, seniority reconciliation and pension input amounts calculated from actual partnership profits rather than guesswork.
Tapered Annual Allowance testing once private and medico-legal income is included, carry forward reviews and Scheme Pays elections handled to deadline.
Type 2 self assessment of tiered contributions, GP Locum A and B forms, and pension input amount checks where locum sessions push your income higher.
NHS dental performers, practice managers, nurses and allied health professionals whose pension growth has quietly become a tax problem.
Every service below exists because the annual statement from the scheme arrives late, is often wrong, and never tells you what to do about it.
We calculate your pension input amount across every section of the scheme, apply unused allowance carried forward from the previous three years and quantify any charge precisely.
Threshold and adjusted income calculated using all your income sources, so you know whether the taper applies before the year ends and while planning is still possible.
Advice on mandatory and voluntary Scheme Pays, the effect on your eventual benefits, and the election prepared and submitted within the statutory time limits.
Type 1 and Type 2 certificates, estimates of pensionable profit and Locum A and B forms prepared, checked against your accounts and submitted to PCSE.
Modelling of retirement dates, 24 hour and partial retirement options, abatement issues and the impact of the McCloud remedy on your choices.
Almost every doctor we meet has at least one of these, and most have never been told about any of them. These are the issues we fix:
Annual Allowance charges arriving years after the event
Tapering triggered by private or locum income nobody counted
Scheme Pays deadlines missed and charges paid personally
Type 1 and Type 2 certificates never submitted to PCSE
Pensionable pay records that do not match the accounts
Carry forward from earlier years never claimed
Retirement decisions made without modelling the tax
NHS pension tax is a specialism inside a specialism. Our team does this work every week and knows where the scheme records go wrong. Here is what you get:
Calculated from your actual pensionable pay and profit figures, across all scheme sections, rather than accepting a statement that is often out of date.
We review the previous three years and apply every pound of unused allowance before any charge is calculated.
Clear advice on mandatory versus voluntary elections, the long-term cost, and the paperwork filed inside the statutory deadline.
Type 1, Type 2, estimates of pensionable profit and Locum A and B forms prepared alongside your accounts, so PCSE always has a correct record.
Side-by-side projections of retirement options, including partial retirement, so the decision is made on numbers rather than corridor advice.
A fixed fee for the pension work, quoted up front, whether or not we also prepare your tax return.
Pension tax is the single most common financial worry we hear from clinicians. Our three-step process gets you a clear answer quickly:
We begin by getting to know your practice and understanding your unique needs. This step ensures we have a clear picture of your operations and your goals.
Based on our initial discussion, we create a personalised plan designed specifically for you. The aim is to keep everything organised and easy to follow. You can rest assured that your numbers are being handled with expert precision.
From there, we take care of the ongoing work and keep you updated with reports. You’ll always know what’s happening, and we’re always here to answer your questions, ensuring you have a clear picture of your financial health at all times.
Chartered, experienced and genuinely specialised in healthcare. Here is what working with us looks like in practice:
We use Xero, Quickbooks, Sage & many other online software.
Meet, call or email the same qualified accountant who knows your practice and your pension position.
Free telephone & email support
throughout the year.
Our team have over 100 years of combined experienced.
Never Miss any deadline with our automated email reminders.
We’re an ICAEW, ACCA & AAT accredited Firm.
Take a back seat and let our specialist healthcare accountants handle everything. You do not need to be an existing client and you never need to speak to your old accountant:
Reach out to us, and we’ll discuss your needs and how we can help your healthcare practice thrive.
We’ll send over a simple letter to formalise our partnership and get everything in motion.
If you're switching, we’ll take care of contacting your previous accountants to make the transition smooth.
From there, sit back and relax. We’ll manage your accounts, taxes, and everything in between, keeping your practice running smoothly.
The Annual Allowance caps the tax-relieved growth in your pension each year. In a defined benefit scheme the growth is calculated from the increase in the value of your promised benefits, not from your contributions. A pay rise applies to all your past service at once, so growth can be many times what you actually paid in.
It is the measure of how much your pension grew in a pension input period, calculated by comparing the opening value of your benefits, uprated for inflation, with the closing value and multiplying the difference by a statutory factor. It is the figure tested against your Annual Allowance.
If your threshold income and adjusted income both exceed the relevant limits, your allowance is reduced on a sliding scale down to a floor. Because adjusted income includes your pension growth as well as private income, doctors often only discover the taper applies after the year has ended.
Scheme Pays lets the NHS Pension Scheme settle your Annual Allowance charge in return for a permanent reduction in your benefits. Mandatory Scheme Pays is available where the charge and the growth exceed set limits; voluntary Scheme Pays covers other cases. Whether it is worthwhile depends on your age, cash position and the notional interest applied, which is exactly what we model.
Charges are declared through self assessment for the relevant tax year, and unused allowance can be carried forward for three years. Historic charges are often discovered late because scheme statements arrive after the tax deadline, so amendments and disclosures may be needed. We deal with those for you.
A Type 1 certificate is completed by GP partners and single-handed GPs to declare pensionable profit. A Type 2 form is completed by salaried and locum GPs to confirm tiered contributions. Both go to PCSE and both affect your pension record and your eventual benefits.
It can. Remediable service between 2015 and 2022 was rolled back into the legacy scheme, with a choice made at retirement. That changes historic pension input amounts and can create or remove past Annual Allowance charges, with compensation available in some cases. We review affected years rather than assuming the statement is final.
Very rarely, and it is one of the most damaging decisions a clinician can make on bad advice. The scheme remains extremely valuable even after an Annual Allowance charge. We would look at Scheme Pays, income timing and pension planning long before considering opting out, and we would always involve a regulated financial adviser for the pension advice itself.
We can prepare and submit the certificates and forms that PCSE requires and chase outstanding records, working alongside you where identity verification is needed. We cannot make the scheme fast, but we can make sure your paperwork is never the reason for a delay.
For tax calculations, certificates, Scheme Pays elections and self assessment, an accountant is the right professional. For regulated advice on retirement products, transfers or investments, you need an FCA regulated financial adviser. We work alongside advisers regularly and will tell you plainly when a question falls outside our remit.
We charge a fixed fee for an Annual Allowance and pension input amount review, with additional fixed fees for Scheme Pays elections or multi-year historic work. The quote is agreed before we start.
Yes. We are based in Morden, South London and advise scheme members across the UK using secure document exchange and video meetings.
Please double-check the figures before you act. The tax, NHS pension and accounting information on this page is general guidance for UK doctors and healthcare professionals, not personal advice. Tax rates, allowances, thresholds and NHS pension rules change regularly, including at each Budget and at the start of every tax year on 6 April. The Annual Allowance, tapering thresholds, Lifetime Allowance successor rules and Scheme Pays deadlines are subject to change, and McCloud remedy statements are still being reissued. Always cross-check any rates or figures against HMRC, the NHS Business Services Authority and the latest Budget announcements, or speak to one of our qualified accountants before acting. CruseBurke cannot accept liability for decisions made solely on the basis of this page. Last reviewed: August 2026.
