Euro vs Pound – Brexit Impact

The Nuffield Trust has recently unveiled some worrying predictions regarding what tens of thousands of expats returning to the UK for healthcare following Brexit could mean for the NHS.

The independent health charity has released a report warning that the NHS will face an even bigger financial strain than it is already under if expats are forced to return to Britain because they can no longer receive funded healthcare in the EU.

The defined benefit scheme – whereby the employer promises the employee a specified payment upon retirement, the amount of which is calculated based on several factors including the years the contributor has been in the scheme, their age, and their salary at retirement – is no longer viable in today’s world.

Recently, the high-profile collapse of the construction firm Carillion has served as yet another example of why this is the case.

The collapse means that, just like in the heavily reported case of retail giant BHS, thousands of employees are likely to have their carefully laid out retirement plans affected. Now that the company has gone into liquidation, it cannot afford to pay employees their expected pension amount, leading to yet another sizeable pensions black hole with a deficit of around £580 million (although the BBC reports that the final figure could be as high as £900 million).