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GDS '95 and '08 sections

Understand the principles of the 1995 section and 2008 section of the NHS pension scheme.

Both the 1995 and 2008 Sections of the NHS Pension Scheme closed to future service on 31 March 2022. Since this date all NHS Pensions have built up in the new, 2015, Pension Scheme.

Pensions built up in the 1995/2008 Sections prior to the closure will be retained and are payable on the terms under which they were built up, as outlined in this guidance note.

This advice provides a general overview of the main elements of the NHS Pension Scheme for dentists in practice: the 1995 section and the 2008 section; it not a complete or authoritative statement of the statutory provisions governing the NHS Pension Scheme. The 2008 section affected new entrants to the scheme from April 2008 onwards and those who chose to transfer to the 2008 section during the NHS Choices exercise (a once-and-for-all opportunity for members of the 1995 section to transfer their benefits to the 2008 section). Advice on the NHS 2015 pension scheme is available separately.