Jeremy Hunt backed Labour plan last year for tax break on NHS pensions

Jeremy Hunt previously backed Labours idea of giving a pensions tax break only to NHS staff, despite ruling out such a move in this weeks budget because it would not come into force quickly enough.

The chancellor was chair of the health select committee last year when members wrote a report calling for the NHS pension scheme to be overhauled to encourage senior doctors to stay in their jobs.

However, this week he went much further, unveiling a 2.75bn tax break for everyone with large pension savings, a move he said was necessary to ensure doctors were helped quickly, but which Labour has said is a costly tax break for the wealthiest savers.

Last June, the health select committee flagged the problem with senior doctors retiring because their pension contributions had reached 1m and were being taxed at a higher rate. The committee said in a report: It is a national scandal that senior medical staff are being forced to reduce their working contribution to the NHS or to leave it entirely because of NHS pension arrangements.