New guidance means that staff who are compulsorily transferred from the NHS to the private or independent sector will generally have a right to continued access to the NHS Pension Scheme.
The government has published the new Fair Deal guidance for England and Wales, which applies where a public service is outsourced to a private/independent provider.
Under this guidance, staff whose employment is compulsorily transferred under TUPE from the NHS to independent providers of public services will generally have a right to continued access to the NHS Pension Scheme, rather than a broadly comparable scheme, as was previously the case.
The new guidance also confirms that, where NHS contracts involving staff covered by the existing Fair Deal policy are retendered, there will be a presumption that staff should be offered access to the NHS pension scheme.
