GP Newsletter Q2 – 2026/2027

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:

• Annual Certificate of Pensionable Profit 2025/26
• Email queries
• Payment on Account
• Annual Allowance
• Self- Assessment of Tiered Contributions
• Engage

• Annual Certificate of Pensionable Profit 2025/26

  The Annual Certificate of Pensionable Profit 2025/26 together with guidance notes will shortly be uploaded to the HSC Pension Service website.

  The Annual Certificate of Pensionable Profit is primarily to record the Pensionable profit for GPs and HSC Pension Service also use this to reconcile any Seniority payments that are made to GPs.

  As you will be aware the SPPG continue to complete funding allocation for GP Practices making any adjustments through the Global Sum via FPPS.

  As the Annual Certificate of Pensionable Profit has the employer contribution tier set at 23.2%, and funding for opt out for Seniority set at 16.3%, HSC Pension Service will complete a separate piece of work to ascertain the figure to use for Seniority purposes and communicate any under/over payments as we have done in previous years.

  As we no longer accept cheques for underpayments of Pension contributions, please note the HSC Pension Scheme bank account details below:

  Account Name: HSC Pension Scheme Account

  Sort Code: 95-01-21
  Account Number: 90197955

  To enable HSC Pension Service to allocate the payment to your account the payment reference number should include the Practice Number and the GP Cypher Number e.g. Pr000 E0000, include the year is possible e.g. 25/26.

  Please send an email to gpcertificates@hscni.net to confirm the processing of the transaction. We will wait for the transaction to be recorded in the Scheme Bank Account before we allocate this to the corresponding GP’s Annual Certificate of Pensionable Profit.

• Email queries

  The GP Certificate inbox receives a high volume of emails on a daily basis. When contacting the practitioner section can you please include as much information as possible on your query so we can answer your query accurately and efficiently. Please include part of your NI No. and DOB so we can access your pension record and provide you with the required information. We have noticed that a lot of emails do not contain the information above and we are having to write back for these details which is delaying us providing an answer to your queries.

• Payment on Account

  The Payment On Account form (POA) is an estimate of pensionable pay for GPs, submitted at the beginning of each year. 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 if your pensionable pay figure has a slight variation from the original submission. This will help us to manage the time spent on POA administration. SPPG also have access to all submitted POAs 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 at : Practitioners | HSC Pension Service

• Annual Allowance

  We are currently processing Annual Allowance (AA) for 2024/25 for Medical 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 outstanding self assessments, this may delay the processing of your Annual Allowance (AA) information.

• Self- Assessment of Tiered Contributions

  A reminder for any Salaried GPs, OOH Stand-Alone GPs and Locum GPs that the 2025/26 Self- Assessment of Tiered Contributions Form is available on our website for completion, the link to the form can be Salaried GPs | HSC Pension Service

  The team continue to work through the Self-Assessment Forms submitted and will contact you when the reconciliation process has been completed.

  HSC Pensions cannot provide you with Annual Allowance and Annual Benefit statements until all self assessments are reconciled, if you are unsure what years you need to complete please email GPCertificates@hscni.net and we will advise what years are outstanding.

• Engage

  HSC Pension portal ‘Engage’ allows users to see all of their Pension information regarding their accrued benefits with all of their HSCNI employments.

  The new system is easier to navigate, and brings all annual benefits statements together to view in one section.

  The new system also has significantly improved security, and now requires users to set up “2 factor authentication” – this is done by the user entering their mobile phone number and receiving a code via text message when they log in.

  As a result of the upgraded security, all previous login credentials are not compatible with the new system, which means anyone who previously signed up before 26/02/2026 will need to sign up again on the new Engage platform.

  Create a new account – HSC Pension Fund

  Once a member has created their new account, they can login from the normal login page

  Login – HSC Pension Fund

  The main Engage section of our website contains helpful videos for members to familiarise themselves with using and navigating Engage.