Business Services Organisation
This newsletter is for all general practitioners (GPs) who are members of the HSC Pension Scheme. This communication will include all relevant updates and procedures regarding the administration of principal, salaried and locum GPs. Please read carefully and retain for future reference.
Principal and salaried GP’s should use gpcertificates@hscni.net mail box.
Locum GPs should use GPLocums@hscni.net mail box.
This newsletter contains information about:
- Important Update: Remediable Service Statements (RSS)
- GP’s Retiring
- Opting Out & In of HSC Pension Scheme Membership
- Payment on Account (POA)
- Tiered Contribution Thresholds for Employees for 2026/27
- Annual Allowance 2024/25
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Important Update: Remediable Service Statements (RSS)
HSC Pension Service is currently working through a number of complex issues in the preparation of member specific RSS (for members who have already retired). These include the review and reconciliation of historical pension records and verification of legacy data.
This requires significant resource requirements to ensure that calculations and information provided within member choice packs are accurate and complete. As a result, there may be delays for some members receiving their RSS by the previously suggested deadline dates.
Please be assured that HSC Pension Service are making every effort to progress this work and our priority remains providing members with accurate, reliable and correct information in order to make your choice confidently.
To help us focus on completing and issuing RSS as quickly as possible, we are asking members not to contact us to enquire regarding the status of their RSS unless their circumstances are urgent or exceptional.
Responding to individual enquires requires resources that would otherwise be dedicated to progressing this work and will cause further delays.
We will provide updates where appropriate via the website and thank members for their patience and cooperation.
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GP's Retiring
When a GP wishes to retire they should complete form AW6 and send to HSC Pension Service 6 months prior to their intended retirement date. This allows time for HSC Pension Service administrators to make sure we have everything we require without causing delays to your benefits being paid.
***If any additional posts are held e.g. HSCB, a HSC Trust, an AW6 must be completed for each employment and sent to the relevant employer. ***
If a GP no longer pays into the HSC Pension Scheme they should instead complete form AW6(P). We would ask that all pension applications are submitted 6 months prior to retirement. A pension notification letter detailing the benefits payable will be sent when the pension has been processed for payment. Please note below some important points to remember:
- Remember to include all necessary certificates such as Birth/Marriage certificate and Lifetime Allowance Protection certificate (LTA) if appropriate.
If a GP retires and decides to re-join the HSC Pension Scheme after retirement they will need to complete an SS14 to re-join the scheme.
If a GP continues to work as a partner in the practice after taking pension benefits but does not re-join the HSC Pension Scheme they must still complete an Annual Certificate for seniority purposes. If they retire mid-year 2 Annual Certificates will be needed for that year i.e. one to show the pensionable profit up to the date of retirement plus a second to cover period from the day after retirement to the end of the financial year. N.B. It is only necessary to inform the BSO when you retire from General Practice entirely, notification should be sent to ProfessionalSupportTeam@hscni.net
Please note: A GP who is still working in the practice at retirement but has opted out of the scheme should complete an AW6(P)
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Opting Out & In of HSC Pension Scheme Membership
Members can ‘opt out’ of HSC Pension Scheme membership at any time. Please remember GPs must either pension all of their practitioner employments or none of their practitioner employments. Members must notify all of their employing authorities, not just HSC Pension Service. GPs can pension their practitioner employments but ‘opt out’ of officer employments or vice versa. Form SD502 is available on our website at SD502, members are reminded to read the Guidance Notes before deciding to ‘opt out’ of the HSC Pension Scheme. GPs opting out in year should utilise any overlap profits in that year’s annual certificate. We record the date of ‘opt out’ on the pension record. If a member decides to ‘opt in’ again we require form SS14 Start of Pensionable Employment to be completed. This is the only way we can continue to update your pension record so that the accurate status of your scheme membership is recorded.
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Payment on Account (POA)
The Payment on Account (POA) form is an estimate of pensionable pay for GPs, submitted at the beginning of each year. For the April 2026 payroll we received 99% of the forms and we thank you for your continued support on this. When completing the POA please submit a realistic average figure at the beginning of the year to avoid multiple submissions of POA in year. There is no need to submit a revised POA where a pensionable pay figure has a slight variation from the original submission. This will help us to manage the time spent on POA administration. SPPG now also have access to the submitted POA for funding purposes. A revised POA does not in itself update a GP’s status in the scheme, form SS14 or SD502 is required to accurately reflect the status of scheme membership at any point in time. All forms are available on our website:
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Tiered Contribution Thresholds for Employees for 2026/27
As per regulations 30 (7) and 31(11) of the HSC Pension Scheme Regulations (NI) 2015 the member contribution banding is updated in line with CPI from 1 April. As of 1 April 2026, the following member contribution structure will apply for the 2026 to 2027 Scheme year, following the September 2025 CPI increase of 3.8%. These figures may be subject to change if the AfC pay award for 2026/27 significantly exceeds 3.8%.
These salary ranges will change each year in line with any annual increase to Agenda for Change pay scales. This means that members will be less likely to move into a higher contribution tier as a result of a national pay award.
Pensionable salary ranges from 1st April 2026 Contribution rate from 1st April 2026 Up to £13,259 5.2% £13,260 to £28,854 6.7% £28,855 to £35,155 8.5% £35,156 to £52,778 10.0% £52,779 to £67,668 10.9% £67,669 and Above 12.7% -
Annual Allowance 2024/25
We are currently processing Annual Allowance (AA) for 2024/25 for all GP’s, these are being processed in date order of the 2024/25 End of Year Certificates being received into the office. When these are processed we will email the GP to make them aware that their Annual Allowance (AA) information is available to view on the Engage portal. Any members that have not yet registered for this service should do so by visiting our website at Login – HSC Pension Fund
Please also note that if there is outstanding information from accountants or a previous employer, this may delay the processing of your Annual Allowance (AA) information.