GP locum pension deadlines: how to stay clear of the 10-week rule

PCSE states that NHS Pension Regulations do not allow a period of freelance GP locum work that ended more than 10 weeks ago to be pensioned, and that forms received after 10 weeks may be rejected. This applies to the period of work, so preserve the exact dates rather than relying only on an invoice issue or payment date.

Do not plan to submit on the last permissible day. The A/B process includes practice approval, and problems can arise with portal access, the selected organisation, fee reconciliation or contribution information. A personal target of processing the previous month early gives those dependencies room.

Historic exceptions or temporary suspensions should not be assumed to apply now. Use PCSE’s current page for the rule in force and contact PCSE about a specific case. airGP cannot extend, waive or interpret the deadline.

PCSE’s current Locum A/B page also states that employee and employer contributions must be paid no later than the seventh day of the following month. Read that alongside the detailed official instructions for the relevant route and period. The existence of a 10-week rejection rule does not mean every earlier payment date is optional.

Operationally, close each month promptly: get A entries submitted and approved, complete B, and pay through the prescribed route. If the dates appear to conflict with your circumstances or an approval is delayed, obtain guidance from PCSE rather than inventing a private interpretation.

The quickest deadline task takes less than a minute when the work is fresh. Record the practice, date, basic fee, invoice link and intended pension route. If eligibility is unclear, label it for review and note who needs to confirm it.

This prevents the worst year-end problem: discovering a pensionable-looking bank payment but being unable to establish the work dates or commissioning practice. A payment date cannot safely stand in for a session end date.

Review open pension actions, especially Locum A entries awaiting practice approval. Sort by oldest work date, not by largest fee. The smallest forgotten session is just as capable of crossing ten weeks as the largest invoice.

Follow up with precise information: practice, session dates, invoice and A submission date. ‘Please approve my pension form’ creates work for the practice and often leads to another email. A short, identifiable list is more useful.

Reconcile the full previous month against invoices and PCSE Online. Confirm that every eligible A/B session reached the expected status, that the B period is complete and that payment evidence is retained. Keep SOLO work on a separate follow-up list with the provider.

This is also the time to review cumulative pensionable income and the employee contribution tier under current NHSBSA rules. Do not wait for the end of the tax year to notice that a provisional tier may need attention.

Illustrative scenario: you work on 3 July, submit the relevant A information on 6 July and the practice approves it on 9 July. You complete the related monthly steps according to PCSE’s instructions. The dates are recorded beside the session. If the official record later appears incomplete, you have enough detail to investigate without approaching the 10-week boundary.

The lesson is not that three days is mandatory. It is that early action converts a deadline into ordinary reconciliation.

Illustrative scenario: sessions ended on 14 August and A was submitted on 2 September, but approval is still outstanding on 16 September. Keep the item open, contact the correct practice user immediately and check that the form went to the correct organisation. If access or visibility is the problem, use PCSE support while there is still margin.

Do not change the status to complete merely because you performed your first action. A submission date proves what you did; it does not prove practice approval or final pensioning.

Illustrative scenario: in December you find an invoice for work that ended in August and no A/B record. Do not backdate your tracker or assume the late discovery creates a new ten-week period. Check the exact work dates against current PCSE guidance and contact PCSE if you need a case-specific answer. The work may be outside the rule and rejected.

Record the outcome honestly. A non-pensioned historic session can remain visible as an exception; deleting it from the work record only hides the control failure and makes accounts harder to reconcile.

The 10-week rule is fundamentally incompatible with a once-a-year filing habit. By the time you assemble April-to-March records, most periods are far beyond the window. Practice staff may have changed, PCSE permissions may differ, and old invoices may not show enough detail to reconstruct the work.

Year-end should be a reconciliation of completed monthly work, not the first attempt to submit it. You should be checking totals and exceptions, not searching for every practice manager’s email address.

airGP can show pension status alongside sessions and preserve PCSE logged dates. This supports an ‘unlogged’ or outstanding-work view based on real sessions, rather than relying on calendar reminders that say only ‘do pension’. Pension logging reminders can reinforce the weekly/monthly habit.

The status is only as reliable as the update you make. Recording a false completion date does not satisfy PCSE, and airGP cannot submit or rescue late forms. airGP is independent of PCSE, NHSBSA and NHS England; it does not provide accountancy or pension advice, rule on eligibility, complete forms, obtain approval or make payments. Ask the official body about a deadline case.