An NHS pension counts in a divorce: NHS Pensions supplies a CETV, and a court can order part of the pension shared with your former spouse.
If you or your spouse belong to the NHS Pension Scheme, three things happen in turn: NHS Pensions values the pension, the court's order decides what happens to it, and the scheme carries that order out. This page follows each step through the scheme's own divorce documents, for the member giving up part of a pension and for the former spouse receiving it. How much to share is a question for the settlement as a whole, and a solicitor handles the divorce itself. An FCA-authorised adviser can weigh the pension against savings, property and tax with you: leave a phone number on this page's form and you will get a call back, free of charge. Rules that apply to every kind of pension are set out in pensions on divorce.
Asking NHS Pensions for a valuation
NHS Pensions, part of the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), runs the scheme in England and Wales. NHSBSA's divorce page says the court treats pension benefits as an asset whose value it may order to be shared. The figure used is a cash equivalent transfer value, or CETV, which NHSBSA's guide (TV74, print code dated 23 July 2026) defines as "the capitalised value of a member’s accrued pension rights and any associated rights", calculated with the Scheme Actuary's guidance and factors. The request steps for any pension are in getting a pension valuation for divorce. For NHS Pensions:
- Form PD1 is the request. The member normally sends it; a spouse or solicitor can ask only with the member's written authority, or under a court order.
- Form PD2 goes to your employer if you are an active member or left within the last 12 months, so that current pay and membership reach NHS Pensions. NHSBSA's factsheet (print code dated 24 July 2026) warns that a PD2 the employer has not completed accurately delays the CETV.
- Two years' qualifying membership is needed. Without it, the guide says, no CETV can be given for divorce, because there are no benefits to share.
NHS Pensions says it will provide the CETV "within three months from the receipt of a request", or within six weeks for a fee.
Service in both the 1995/2008 Scheme and the 2015 Scheme means two valuations. The factsheet treats them as separate schemes for divorce, so the member asks for a CETV from each; which NHS pension scheme you are in explains who has both. The court papers must match: the factsheet says it is "insufficient to simply refer to ’the NHS Pension Scheme’", and TV74 requires a separate annex for each scheme.
Membership between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 may also be touched by the McCloud remedy. NHSBSA says rollback does not affect every member; for those it covers, that service is moved into the 1995/2008 Scheme, with a choice about the remedy period benefits made "when benefits become payable or you transfer out". How that bears on a particular divorce CETV is one to put to NHS Pensions, and the remedy itself is explained on the McCloud remedy page.
What NHS Pensions charges
TV74 says a member "is entitled to one CETV a year free of charge for any purpose". The exceptions and the other charges are in the scheme's schedule of charges, print code dated 20 June 2024 (V22), which is the version NHSBSA's divorce page links. Figures include VAT. The factsheet says charges "are subject to an annual increase each April", so these amounts may be out of date: check the current schedule before relying on them.
| Item in the schedule | Charge (V22, including VAT) |
|---|---|
| CETV for a member not drawing an NHS pension, where none has been given in the previous 12 months | No charge |
| CETV given again within 12 months, needed within six weeks, or for a pensioner or deferred member over normal pension age | £408.00 |
| Acknowledging and implementing a pension sharing order | £1,693.56 |
| Implementing an attachment order for a pension and/or retirement lump sum | £613.00 |
A CETV the court itself orders is sent free. The charge is per member rather than per scheme, so a single charge covers benefits in both schemes. NHS Pensions will check a draft order and annex before the court seals them, at no charge. Unless a court order says otherwise, charges are paid up front, before NHS Pensions supplies information or starts work on an order. Who bears the cost between you is for the order to say; what a pension sharing order costs covers that.
What a sharing order does to the member's pension
A sharing order sets a percentage, the member's benefits are reduced (the "pension debit"), and a separate pension (the "pension credit") is created in the other person's name. NHS Pensions needs the sealed order, the annex, the decree absolute or final order, and the fee, and then has four months to act. The effective date is the later of the final order and 28 days after the court order; the timeline guide covers that rule.
NHSBSA's worked example turns a CETV of "£40,455.71 × 70% = £28,319.00" into a credit, then divides by an actuary's factor to give a yearly pension: "£28,319.00 ÷ 15.13 = £1,871.71". It is the scheme's illustration only, and the factsheet warns that the credit member's benefits "will not exactly replicate" what the member loses.
Before retirement, the guide says the pension, any lump sum and later adult dependants' benefits fall by the percentage; at retirement the debit is increased in line with the cost of living and then deducted. After retirement the pension in payment is reduced from the date of the order. Shared benefits cannot be replaced, though the member may be able to buy additional pension, subject to the scheme and HMRC rules at the time. An attachment (earmarking) order works differently: the pension remains the member's, and nothing earmarked reaches the former spouse until the member retires (see sharing against earmarking).
Pot sizes, ages and the rest of the settlement decide which route fits. For a conversation about your own figures, this page's form asks an FCA-authorised adviser to ring you, at no cost.
The pension credit member: payment ages and limits
The recipient becomes a pension credit member with a pension account of their own (SI 2015/94, Schedule 9, paragraph 26). For the 2015 Scheme in England and Wales, regulation 76 makes the pension payable on the later of two events: "the pension credit member reaches whichever is the later of the age of 65 or state pension age", and the date the order takes effect. NHSBSA's guide gives normal pension age as 60 in the 1995 Section, 65 in the 2008 Section, and 65 or State Pension age, whichever is later, in the 2015 Scheme.
Earlier payment is limited. Under the same regulation a credit member who has reached normal minimum pension age can claim a reduced pension straight away. An immediate pension is also payable on ill-health grounds if, in the scheme manager's opinion, the credit member meets the ill-health condition set by pensions tax law, had previously been in regular employment and is now "permanently incapable of engaging in regular employment due to mental or physical infirmity". TV74 also lists serious illness with a life expectancy of no more than 12 months. Claims use form AW8PC.
Credit membership carries fewer rights than full membership, the guide says:
- The credit stays in the NHS scheme. It cannot be moved to another scheme, other pensions cannot be brought in to join it, and additional pension cannot be bought on it.
- A share "does not provide dependant’s benefits" (the position on an ex-spouse's survivor rights is on survivor benefits after divorce).
- A lump sum is not normally payable unless the member had an automatic one, though for credits payable from 6 April 2009 part may be exchanged for one (see tax-free cash from a pension share).
- For the 2015 Scheme, Schedule 14, paragraph 8 provides a lump sum when a credit member dies, unless the death comes after the credit benefits have become payable and more than five years after the pension became payable.
The order does not lapse when the member dies or the former spouse remarries, because the credit member's benefits are independent (remarriage is covered separately). A former spouse with enhanced or fixed protection loses it when the share is implemented, and a member with protection who takes a debit may lose theirs and must tell HMRC about the debit.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
NHSBSA's guide describes divorce "in England or Wales". In Scotland the NHS scheme is a separate one, administered by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA), whose divorce page asks for a written CETV request giving the dates of marriage and separation. SPPA says a valuation can take up to three months because it needs information from employers and HMRC, and that its fees are set out in its application forms. For divorces under Scots law SPPA says "only pension rights relating to the period of marriage" count in the CETV; under English law all rights are taken into account. A Scottish credit member's benefits stay in the scheme and are paid at the member's normal scheme retirement age, which SPPA gives as 60, 65 or State Pension age depending on the section.
Where a Scottish order is to be put into effect by NHS Pensions, NHSBSA's guide sets a two-month limit: the documents must arrive within two months of the extract decree or the order or agreement "is deemed to have never taken effect". The wider position is on pensions on divorce in Scotland and Northern Ireland; the Northern Ireland scheme is not described here.
NHS pension and divorce: common questions
Is an NHS pension split automatically on divorce?
No. Sharing happens only if the court orders it, and NHS Pensions then follows the order's terms. The alternative to dividing the pension is setting it against other assets, explained in pension offsetting.
Will my NHS pension statement show the share?
Not by default. TV74 says the reduction from a pension share does not appear in later membership statements; a statement with the debit deducted has to be requested from NHS Pensions specifically. Retirement estimates in general are covered in the NHS pension calculator guide.
What happens to a pension sharing order if the NHS member dies?
Once implemented, the guide says it does not lapse on the member's death. If death comes before the scheme has acted, see death before implementation.
Can an NHS pension already in payment be shared?
Yes; the guide covers an order made after retirement, with the pension reduced from the order's date. More is on sharing a pension in payment.
Do other public service pensions follow the same process?
Each has its own administrator, forms and charges; see the armed forces, Teachers' and local government pages.
Rather talk it through? Jotting your phone number on this page's form, free, prompts an FCA-authorised adviser to ring back.
Sources
- NHSBSA, Divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership and your pension, read 20 October 2026, and its linked documents: guide TV74 (V13, 23 July 2026); factsheet (V12, 24 July 2026); schedule of charges (V22, 20 June 2024)
- NHSBSA, Rollback of remedy period service, read 20 October 2026
- legislation.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026: NHS Pension Scheme Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/94), regulation 76, Schedule 9 paragraph 26, Schedule 14 paragraph 8
- SPPA, Getting divorced, read 20 October 2026