Question re NHS pension

so going down a grade in the last 3 years would be very foolhardy

The best of the last three years in the immediate years before retirement. I’m going in 18 months so have double checked this several times!

See my previous post for fuller explanation, but as the link remains to final salary for 95 scheme, its the best of the three years when you retire.

The scheme guides are a useful starting point. Pen-gage offers free webinars which are highly regarded and she has a helpful facebook page.

Same. I’m in Scotland and the NHS SPPA (Scottish public pensions agency) department is rubbish! You are on hold for hours and the people you speak to just advise you to seek (and pay for) independent financial advice.

My friend’s DH was a fireman and that department of the SPPA was brilliant with him. He got given charts showing all his options and what the outcomes would be.

It is sooooo complicated it’s utterly frustrating and depressing.

There’s an NHS facebook pensions group that has experts answering the questions rather than ‘mums’!

That is inaccurate on many levels not just the lump sum errors.
Depending on how old your friend is, she may have pension in both the 1995 & 2015 schemes. The 1995 scheme with normal retirement age of 60, is calculated on number of reckonable years and best year of your final 3 and on your FT salary. No one in the right mind would therefore drop to a band 2 from a band 7 in those 3 years leading to 60. It doesn’t matter that the scheme closed in 2022, that is how the calculations are made 🤷‍♀️
The 2015 scheme is different in that it is a career average scheme. And you definitely can swap some of your annual pension for lump sum in the 2015 scheme too.
OP Your friend needs to wrap her head around this, it’s vitally important, before she makes a massive financial blunder.

the best of the current last 3 years or the best of the last 3 years whilst in the scheme before it changed ?

@Nuffalready as was I. TRS breaks them down by scheme as does pension statements. Hopefully people are now being given their choice under McCloud when they are looking to retire. I retired last year and i will be waiting until Dec 26 before I can make my choice.

95 is the best of the last 3 years and 2008 is the average of the best 3 consecutive years out of the final 10 years prior to retirement. Last 10 years are revalued in line with CPI. Count back is from the date of retirement and not calendar or financial years.

How much lump sum to take is very personal and how much to take should be considered taking personal circumstances into account. It was something I had to think really hard about and it was difficult to get rid of the earworm telling me to take the maximum which was regularly spouted by colleagues without consideration of individual circumstances. The lump sum can be any figure between the min and max (as long as it’s divisible by 12). In the end I took neither minimum nor maximum, but a figure which was right for my circumstances. Tax is payable on interest from savings over a certain amount, unless invested in a tax free vehicle, so that needs to be considered as well.

It’s best of the last three years.

It is really complicated as many of us are in 2 schemes. I spent a lot of my last year doing calculations and there wasn’t any real help, but then I am the one most invested in finding out! I did attend a webinar which was useful though. I think the 2008 scheme calculates best of final 3 years whereas 95 is strictly the last year, in response to a previous query. Also would advise to think about max lump sum for tax reasons, if you’re continuing to work, as 25% of (theoretical) pension pot can be taken tax free. Obviously this reduces pension but could be useful depending on individual financial circumstances ( eg paying lump sum off mortgage) and having lower pension but lower tax burden too.

@YinYangalang its not that complicated for the majority of those who have officer status. In 95 scheme the pension will just build up at 0.8 etc of the rate of someone who is full time. For example after 5 years, a full time person would have 5 years of calendar and reckonable membership, where someone working 0.8 would have 5 years of calendar membership but only 4 years of reckonable membership. It can get more complex if people chop and change their hours, but the majority don’t change hours regularly.

The hours you were on 30 won’t count as a full year. It is even more complicated if you have been part time.

Full time equivalent of whatever pay band and point you are on.

Being able to find and understand the information are two different things, but you are not alone with either of them. The guides can be found in the members hub on the pensions website and if you are struggling to understand things, see if you can go on a retirement workshop via your employer, or have a look at the free webinars that Pen-gage offer.

what is the FTE salary for 95 scheme

Tbf trying to navigate the NHS pensions website is a minefield and so confusing hence me asking. I've worked in the NHS since 95 and still struggle to get my head around it.

It’s the FTE salary for 95 scheme. The amount of service accrued will have been reduced for part time working so your pension will have built up at a lower rate during the time you were working full time. The appropriate scheme guides will tell you how things are worked out and can easily be found on NHS Pensions website.

I think retirement ages are different for clinical staff. As an admin person I can't claim the remaining part of my pension until I reach state pension age. Another year to go for me. Retirement age for nursing staff (for NHS pensions) used to be 50 on the 1995 scheme... I have no idea what it is now.

oh why not admin?
and i believe you can retire and return but i gather from the facebook page it is a risk as the terms and conditions might be reset and the contract might only be for one year, caution needed

Is it final salary from the last year or best of the last 3 years?

This isn’t entirely true. The 1995 section still uses the final salary to work out the income and lump sum, not the 2022 salary. There is also a way to ring fence your higher salary specifically to allow you to drop to a lower band for a few years before retirement. But it’s complicated and she needs to get professional advice from someone who understands the NHS pension schemes. I agree that NHS HR/payroll are not very good and I wouldn’t rely on them.

@EleanorReally my Trust's pension department have been great! I'm not sure if everyone can retire and return at 60 any more, on the 'new' pension plans, certainly not if they are admin. I was (originally) on the 1995 scheme and did retire and return at 60, so that I could come back on reduced hours and still retain my pension based on full time hours from the 1995 scheme, while earning additional pension under the new scheme for when I finally retired completely.

She needs to understand how each of the pension schemes work and then take advice on options before dropping so many bands. Her pension would be reduced by taking this action, either due to the link to final salary or due to the lower build up due to the lower salary - depending on the schemes she will be in.

Pen-gage has a face book page, but more importantly offers free webinars explaining how the pension schemes work. She could of course read each of her scheme guides which is she can’t find hers are available online via NHS Pensions.

I always wondered this and couldn't see a clear answer. This makes me really happy though as I was only on 30 hours in 2022 and now full time until I take mine in 9 years (and counting!!).

The 95 scheme still retains the link to final salary despite the scheme being closed (unless circumstances are met to protect it).