There are 2 NHS Pension schemes. These are the:
- 1995 / 2008 Scheme
- 2015 Scheme
From 1 April 2022, all new and active members of the NHS Pension Scheme are members of the 2015 Scheme.
Find out more about the details of each scheme in our NHS Pension Scheme overview (PDF: 186KB).
Types of members
There are 3 different types of members in the NHS Pension Scheme.
Active members are those currently paying into the Scheme.
Pensioners are those currently getting their pension payments.
Deferred members are those who used to be active members, and they're:
- still entitled to NHS Pension retirement benefits
- not paying into the Scheme anymore
- not getting their pension payments
Types of membership
Membership is the length of time you pay into the NHS Pension Scheme. We use this to decide which pension benefits you can get. There are 4 different types of membership.
Qualifying membership is any membership we consider when deciding what pension benefits you’re eligible for.
Reckonable membership is any previous service you’ve had with an NHS organisation that we can use when deciding what pension benefits you’re eligible for.
Non-contributing membership is any period where you were a member of the Scheme but did not pay contributions.
Contributing membership is any period during which you were paying contributions. This makes up your qualifying and reckonable membership.
You can watch our video to about the NHS Pension Scheme and what type of member you are:
Download the video transcript (PDF: 119KB).
How your membership is calculated
Find out more about how your membership is calculated:
Calculating membership (PDF: 178KB)Maximum membership and age restrictions (PDF: 101KB)Mental Health Officer (MHO) (Word: 218KB)Special Class status (SCS) (Word: 218KB)Working for a Direction/Determination Employer employee information (PDF: 169KB)
How life events may affect your pension
Find out how some changes in your life may impact your NHS Pension:
Authorised leave and career breaks (Word: 198KB) Maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave (Word: 200KB)Gender recognition (PDF: 129KB)
Questions about your membership
If you have any questions about your membership, you can send us a membership enquiry form.
Before you send us a form, read our membership record factsheet (PDF: 218KB) for some general information about your member record.
We also have factsheets about:
- Standard membership, in our Standard membership enquiry factsheet (PDF: 242KB)
- Part Time Access, in our Part-Time Access membership enquiry factsheet (PDF: 184KB)
The public service pensions remedy period (McCloud)
In 2015, the government made changes to public service pension schemes, including the NHS Pension Scheme.
Scheme protection allowed some members who were closer to retirement to stay in the section of the Scheme they were in on 31 March 2015.
The Court of Appeal later found that this discriminated against younger members. The government is removing this age discrimination from public service pension schemes.
Visit our Public service pensions remedy - McCloud pages for more information.
How this affects NHS Pension Scheme members
The 1995/2008 NHS Pension Scheme closed on 31 March 2022. All active members of the NHS Pension Scheme became part of the 2015 Scheme on 1 April 2022.
Under the remedy, eligible members will keep any membership they earned before 1 April 2022 in the 1995/2008 Scheme, subject to normal eligibility rules.
If you're eligible for the remedy, you'll be offered a choice of either 1995/2008 Scheme or 2015 Scheme pension benefits for any service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022. This has replaced any previous protection arrangements.
If you were moved from the 1995/2008 Scheme to the 2015 Scheme for any period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 under the previous arrangements, this period has been rolled back into the 1995/2008 Scheme.
You can read more about the changes on our Rollback of remedy period service page.
Previous public service pension scheme membership (PPSM)
If you were a member of a previous eligible UK public service pension scheme, you may need to give us details about this if you either:
- joined the NHS Pension Scheme on or after 1 April 2012
- rejoined the NHS Pension Scheme after a break of more than 5 years
Visit our Understanding if your NHS Pension is affected by changes to public sector pensions page for more information, and download the Remedy PPSM form.
Protection of pay
In some circumstances, you may be able to protect your pensionable pay for your 1995/2008 Section pension benefits if you have a reduction in pensionable pay.
You can find out more by reading our Protection of pay and voluntary protection of pay factsheet (PDF: 250KB).
You can apply for protection of pay or voluntary protection using the request to protect pensionable pay application form (SMR9)_(App) (Word: 246KB).