For NHS pension years of service, two years' qualifying membership lets you keep a pension in the scheme; with less, you can usually take a refund instead.

How many years you need depends on what you want from the scheme: a pension left to wait for retirement, or a refund of your own contributions. Years also build the pension itself, in different ways in the 1995 Section, the 2008 Section and the 2015 Scheme. Gaps or changing hours on your NHS record? Those particular years deserve an FCA-authorised adviser's look, and a free call to go through them is one short step away: the form on this page. Who can join the NHS Pension Scheme is a separate question.

How many years do you need for an NHS pension?

Two years of qualifying membership is the threshold for keeping your benefits in the scheme. The Leaving Early and Transferring Out Guide from NHS Pensions says: "If you have two or more years qualifying membership or you have less than two years qualifying membership and transferred in pension rights from a personal pension you can choose to leave (‘defer’) your benefits in the Scheme." A deferred pension is usually payable from your normal pension age; NHS pension age by section has the ages.

Leaving with an NHS pension under 2 years of qualifying membership is a different case. The same guide says a member who stops with under two years' qualifying membership "can apply for a refund immediately". The refund is of your own contributions, less tax and National Insurance. It is open only before normal pension age, and not to anyone who transferred a personal pension in. What happens to your NHS pension when you leave covers the choices in full, and cashing in an NHS pension covers claiming.

How much a deferred pension is worth depends on the section you were in and your pay, which the later sections set out.

What counts as qualifying membership?

Qualifying membership counts towards the two years but, in the guide's words, "may not count when we work out benefits". Several things are counted for the two-year test:

  • part-time membership, at its full length: the guide says it "counts as qualifying membership at full length, but when we work out pension benefits we only use the hours or programmed activities worked";
  • 1995 Section membership, which counts as qualifying in the 2008 Section for members with benefits in both;
  • 1995/2008 membership, which counts as qualifying in the 2015 Scheme for people who moved across on or after 1 April 2015;
  • pension rights transferred in, by the difference between the length of the transfer credit and the period in the old scheme;
  • breaks of not more than three months between jobs, for casual employees and freelance locum doctors;
  • earlier refunded membership, if you rejoin within a month of leaving.

A refund does not have to be taken at once. The guide says "You do not have to have a refund until you have a disqualifying break in membership". Whether short contracts, bank shifts or breaks add up to two years is for NHS Pensions to confirm, though an adviser can explain how to ask if you fill in the form.

How years of service build your pension in each section

Past the two-year point, each year adds pension, but by different rules. Which NHS scheme you are in explains how to tell; the 1995/2008 Scheme closed to active members on 31 March 2022, so everyone contributing from 1 April 2022 is in the 2015 Scheme.

SectionHow a year of service counts
1995 Section1/80th of your pensionable pay in the best of your final three years, per year of pensionable membership
2008 Section1/60th of your reckonable pay for each year of pensionable membership
2015 Scheme1/54th of each year's pensionable earnings, revalued each year (career average)

In both older sections part years count proportionally. The 2015 Scheme is, in NHS Pensions' words, "a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme", so there each year of membership adds its own annual pension rather than feeding one final-pay calculation. Estimating your NHS pension and what an NHS pension is worth turn the fractions into pounds.

Part-time work shows the difference between the two tests. In the older sections, membership for benefits is the actual amount built up: someone who works 50% of full-time hours for 20 years has 10 years counting towards benefits, though pay is taken at the full-time equivalent. If your NHS hours kept changing, an FCA-authorised adviser can help weigh what that mix means; send the form on this page.

Is there a maximum number of years in the NHS pension?

For service in the 1995/2008 Scheme, yes. Its members guide says you are not eligible to continue in either section once you "have reached 45 years' pensionable calendar* membership"; the footnote behind that asterisk limits Special Class members to 40 years at age 55 and 45 years after that. A 2008 Section member who reached 45 years could give written notice and keep contributing, with benefits worked out on the most beneficial 45 years. That scheme closed on 31 March 2022, so anyone building pension now is in the 2015 Scheme, where the guide says you can build pension "until age 75 with no limit to the number of years' pensionable earnings that can be taken into account".

Buying extra years and transferring in

In the 1995 Section, full-cost Added Years closed to new applications on 31 March 2009, though a contract begun earlier may be completed if you stay in the 1995 Section without a break of 12 months or more. The 2015 Scheme offers additional pension instead, which NHS Pensions calls "a flexible way of increasing your NHS pension"; it is bought in pounds of pension, not in years. NHS top-up options compares them.

You may apply to transfer pension from an earlier job if the old scheme is HMRC-registered and the application reaches NHS Pensions within 12 months of first becoming eligible to join. See transferring a pension into the NHS.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and your own record

The 2015 Members Guide says it covers "the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales". NHS Scotland's scheme, run by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, says "If you contribute to an NHS Scotland pension for more than two years, your benefits will be preserved for you when you leave", and the Scottish scheme has its own page. Northern Ireland has its own HSC Pension Scheme and member guides. Check which applies before relying on any figure above.

NHS Pensions is the place to confirm how your own membership was counted, and MoneyHelper gives free guidance too; what Pension Wise is explains who its appointments are for. Beyond that, an adviser's free call-back, requested with the short form here, can cover where your NHS years sit in your wider retirement plans.

NHS pension years: your questions

What if I leave the NHS after twelve months?

A refund of your own contributions is what the guides describe for under two years, not a deferred pension, unless a personal pension was transferred in. It need not be taken straight away.

Do part-time years count as full years?

For the two-year test, yes: part-time membership counts at full length. For working out the pension, only the hours or programmed activities worked are used.

Is there a number of years that gives a full pension?

There is no single number. Pension grows with each year in every section, up to 45 years in the 1995/2008 Scheme, and in the 2015 Scheme with no limit on years until age 75.

Do my 1995 Section years count towards the two years in the 2015 Scheme?

Yes for members who moved across on or after 1 April 2015: 1995/2008 qualifying membership counts as qualifying in the 2015 Scheme.

Can I repay a refund and get the years back?

Sometimes. In the 2015 Scheme, a refund taken during a gap of five years or less can be paid back in the first six months after you return, and those years then count towards your pension; for the 1995/2008 Scheme the guide allows a gap of 12 months. Come back to the 2015 Scheme after more than five years and a refund is compulsory if you have not already had one.

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