The Economic Secretary to the Treasury
(): At
this time, it is important that key public sector
workforces can bring back workers with relevant and
valuable experience to ensure that the government can
continue to provide critical public services. I am working
with colleagues across government to ensure we remove any
potential barriers to those who wish to return to work to
help in our fight against Covid-19.
For public sector workers returning to support the
government’s response to Covid-19 the government intends to
temporarily suspend tax rules that would otherwise apply
significant tax charges to pension income received by
recently retired individuals aged between 50 and 55. This
change, taken alongside complementary changes to rules for
relevant public service pension schemes (subject to
relevant HM Treasury agreement), will help ensure
individuals’ pension income will remain protected if they
return to work at this important time.
The measure is designed to ensure that we can
continue to provide important public services at this time.
As these proposed tax changes form part of our response to
Covid-19, they will initially apply in respect of payments
made in the period from 1 March to 1 June 2020.
HMRC will set out operational guidance in due course,
but this measure will only apply to people returning to
roles as a result of Covid-19. I am working with colleagues
to identify relevant workforces who should benefit from
these changes.
The government’s actions will provide relevant public
sector staff associations with the assurance that their
members with pensions in payment and pension benefits will
be unaffected if they wish to play their part in our
response to this virus.
