Can I take my NHS pension and still work? Yes, through partial retirement or retire and return, each with its own conditions on pay, breaks and abatement.

Can I take my NHS pension and still work?

Yes, by two routes. Partial retirement lets you draw some or all of your pension without leaving your job. Retire and return means you retire, claim your pension, and go back to NHS work after a short break. The rules below come from the NHS Business Services Authority's (NHSBSA) 2026 guidance; several were eased in 2023.

NHSBSA's calculator and your HR team come first for your own figures. A free Pension Wise appointment, impartial and backed by government, covers your choices for taking money from a defined contribution pension held alongside the NHS scheme. Anyone wanting the NHS pension, other pots and tax weighed together can ask, through the short form here, for an unpaid phone consultation with an FCA-authorised adviser.

The two routes differ in what they ask of you:

  • Partial retirement: you keep working for the NHS, but your employer must agree a lower level of pensionable pay.
  • Retire and return: you stop, claim, and return after a gap of at least 24 hours.

Which section your service sits in (1995, 2008 or 2015) shapes some details; which NHS pension scheme you are in helps if you are unsure. Claiming before your normal pension age reduces the pension, and taking your NHS pension early explains by how much.

Partial retirement: some or all of your pension while you keep your job

NHSBSA allows partial retirement from age 55, or from a protected minimum pension age of 50, provided your employer agrees. You draw part or all of what you have built up, stay employed by the NHS, and go on adding to the 2015 Scheme. "This is called partial retirement - it may also be known as drawdown," NHSBSA explains.

The amount is yours to choose within limits: at least 20% and up to 100% of your pension benefits, in one or two drawdown payments. What you draw is paid monthly. Members with a minimum pension age of 50 who partially retire must take 100% of their 1995 Section benefits, according to NHSBSA's partial retirement factsheet (V7, 21 December 2023).

The 2023 changes for each section

From 1 October 2023 members with 1995 Section benefits gained partial retirement: once you reach your minimum pension age, you can claim up to 100% of those benefits and keep building pension in the 2015 Scheme. For the 2008 Section and 2015 Scheme, the maximum you can claim rose from 80% to 100%.

Using the calculator, or asking for an estimate

NHSBSA's Partial Retirement Calculator shows the lump sum and annual pension you might claim and how your benefits grow for each further year you work. Some members are told to ask for an estimate instead, including members of the 2008 Section, anyone with a break from the scheme, and members with GP or other practitioner membership. If the McCloud remedy affects you, the percentage you take needs extra thought: if you later choose 2015 Scheme benefits for the remedy period, "you may have overpayments to pay back" (see the McCloud remedy).

The factsheet also cautions that a pension drawn on top of your pay may alter your personal tax position. To hear how that might play out on your own income, raise it with an FCA-authorised adviser via this page's short enquiry form, at no cost; the NHS pension lump sum page covers the cash side.

The 10% pay rule and the twelve months after partial retirement

The test is pensionable pay, not hours alone. In NHSBSA's words: "you need to agree a new working arrangement that lets you reduce your pensionable pay by at least 10%." Fewer hours is one way to get there; NHSBSA's other examples are taking on less responsibility or moving to a new role. The same cut is needed for a second partial retirement, and the factsheet allows no more than two before you retire fully.

Agreement has to come first. The new arrangement must be in place before your employer sends in your application, which NHSBSA says means leaving "enough time to discuss your suggestions with your employer". You complete an AW8 Retirement Benefits Claim Form, and your employer adds a short Partial Retirement Supplementary Form.

Keeping the reduced level

For a full year after you partially retire, your pensionable pay has to stay at the reduced level; if it does not, you lose your eligibility for the pension already paid out. Extra work that does not count towards your pension may still be possible in that year. Overtime is non-pensionable for the 12 months. Bank work is non-pensionable only if you opt out of the NHS Pension Scheme for your bank contract.

Abatement also applies in that first year. The factsheet says annual NHS pay awards and progress through your pay band or pay scale do not count, but a pay rise from a contractual change, such as a better-paid job, more hours or more commitments, does: if it lifts your pay above 90% of your pensionable pay before partial retirement, the pension you are drawing is stopped until pay falls back to that 90% level. After 12 months, your pay can rise without affecting it. Sending the enquiry form here gets your own plans checked by an FCA-authorised adviser, free.

Retire and return: the 24-hour break and the 16-hour rule

You claim your whole pension, leave for at least a day, then go back and, if you wish, rejoin the 2015 Scheme to start building pension again. The minimum gap NHSBSA sets is 24 hours, and that break is what turns a partial retirement into a full one.

If you have seen a 16-hour rule mentioned, it is out of date. NHSBSA lists its removal among the April 2023 changes: "If you are a member of the 1995 Section, you can take your pension benefits, return to work and work as many hours as you choose. As long as you've had a break of at least 24 hours from your previous job."

What changed for the 1995 Section in April 2023

Retire and return was already open to members of the 2008 Section and 2015 Scheme. From 1 April 2023, members who have retired and claimed 1995 Section benefits can also return to NHS work and build new benefits in the 2015 Scheme. Before that date, 1995 Section pensioners back at work could not build further 2015 Scheme pension.

Two duties apply in every case: tell your new employer that you are in receipt of NHS Pension Scheme benefits, and tell NHSBSA that you have returned to NHS employment. If you retired on ill-health grounds, NHSBSA points you to separate re-employment guidance; the ill health retirement page covers that route.

Rejoining the 2015 Scheme when you go back

Rejoining is a choice, not automatic. NHSBSA says a returning pensioner can rejoin and build benefits in the 2015 Scheme up to the maximum pension age limit of 75. Ask your employer to set it up: "If you would like to join the 2015 Scheme, your employer must set up membership for you and may need to end any alternative pension arrangement you may have."

That alternative arrangement matters most to 1995 Section pensioners who came back before 1 April 2023 and may have been saving into something like NEST. If you end it and join the 2015 Scheme, NHSBSA says you may be able to transfer those benefits in, within 12 months of becoming eligible and before your normal pension age. The window is short, so read transferring a pension into the NHS before you act.

Contribution tiers are on the NHS pension rates page, and the opt-out page covers leaving again.

Abatement: will going back to work cut my pension?

It depends on your status, your age and how you retired. NHSBSA defines it: "Abatement means if you go over an earnings margin, the annual pension will be reduced. An earnings margin means the regulations do not permit a pensioner to receive more in pension re-employed salary than the salary earned before retirement."

From 1 April 2023 the Department of Health and Social Care removed abatement if you have Special Class status, if you have Mental Health Officer status, or if you claim age retirement benefits before age 60. NHSBSA says that means your pension payments are not reduced if you return to NHS employment or increase your working commitments.

Other cases NHSBSA lists as not affected:

  • You are over the normal pension age: 60 for the 1995 Section, 65 for the 2008 Section, and State Pension age or 65, if later, for the 2015 Scheme.
  • You retired before the normal pension age on redundancy benefits, and retired on or after 1 October 2011.
  • You receive actuarially reduced early retirement benefits.

NHSBSA then adds a limit: "All other types of early retirement may affect your pension. This includes 'retirement in the interest of efficiency of the service'."

NHSBSA's re-employment guidance is written about returning to NHS employment; how earnings from work outside the NHS sit alongside the pension is a separate question, one the adviser who contacts you after an enquiry can answer free.

Working and drawing an NHS pension: your questions

Can I take my NHS pension at 55 and still work?

Yes, for most members, through partial retirement with your employer's agreement and a pay cut of at least 10%. Some 1995 Section members, generally those who joined before 6 April 2006, have a protected minimum pension age of 50. Benefits taken before normal pension age are reduced, as the early retirement page explains.

Can I take my NHS pension at 60 and carry on working?

For 1995 Section benefits, 60 is the normal pension age, and NHSBSA says a return to NHS work does not affect a pension once you are over it. For 2008 Section or 2015 Scheme benefits, 60 is earlier than normal pension age, so the abatement rules above can apply.

Can I take my NHS pension without retiring?

Yes: partial retirement lets you draw 20% to 100% of your pension and stay employed. Your employer has to agree, and your pensionable pay has to fall by at least 10%.

Is NHS pension drawdown different from partial retirement?

No: NHSBSA uses drawdown as another name for partial retirement, paid as a monthly pension. Drawdown from a personal or workplace pot works differently; see pension drawdown.

Does this apply to NHS Scotland?

This page follows NHSBSA's rules. Staff in NHS Scotland belong to a separate scheme administered by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency: "The NHS Scotland Pension Scheme 2015 replaced the previous schemes on 1 April 2015." Check its rules, and see how the Scottish scheme differs.

Sections, breaks and other pensions all feed into which route fits. To have the lot looked at together, leave your name and number with the quote form here; you will hear back from an FCA-authorised adviser by telephone, and the chat is unpaid.