Should I collect my NHS pension now? 1995 section, aged 60.

[Fordian]

I'm still working, but is there any point in NOT collecting the pension I'm entitled to from the 1995 section as its 'normal retirement age' is 60, and I'm now 60? I've been NHS since 2004.

I mean, being a defined benefit scheme that money (in that section) won't grow, will it? So I may as well collect it?

Ive had a year off due to my cancer treatment and start a phased return tomorrow. The cancer hastnt gone but I need to get my sick pay up again, im 56 and am able to go at 55. I have the 95 and now pay into the 15. I want to partially retire if I drop one shift thats about 10percent. When do you think I should mention partial retirement? Im terrified they will say no due to my sickness. I cant afford not to go back but its annoying me I have £90,000 in a lump sum sitting and doing nothing.

also my manager is very inexperienced and I feel like she is going to treat it as retire and return.

I haven't worked for the NHS since 2015 so I don't know if this is,still allowed but I lot of former colleagues had mental.health officer status ( lucky them) which allowed then to retire on a full pension ( assuming they had 30 years service) at 55
And many Returned s to work part time after retirement whilst claiming their pension .

@EachandEveryone the NHS is huge and there will have been many people before you who have done this.

My advice is to talk to the pension team first https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions. Then talk to your TU rep and HR, keep your manager informed as a courtesy.

But at what point do I have to ask her to take me back! Unfortunately for her she gets her advice from one of our seniors who is pure poison. The manager doesn’t know this though. There’s always one isn’t there? Totally shit stirs between everyone and beleive me she would like to see the back of me. Wish me luck tomorrow when I have to sit with her to go through what I have missed. I swear she thinks I’ve been off on a jolly for a year.

I'm almost 56 and our Trust recently organised expert NHS pension seminars so that all of us affected by McCloud could explore our options. All Trusts really ought to do this, it made so much sense of things.

I'm admin so I can't take my 1995 benefits until I'm 60, but at that point I get to choose which post McCloud option I want to take - staying in 1995 will be far more advantageous for me. I want to keep working, nowhere near ready to retire and I love my work so will be taking max lump sum and going back, probs 4 days a week.

But at what point do I have to ask her to take me back!

If you're on partial retirement, there's no being 'taken back'. You remain employed on the same contract - which is important to retain your redundancy rights. The retirement part needs sorting with your pensions department and takes about 4 months. The only bit that needs negotiating with your manager is the drop in hours.

However, the actual stipulation in the partial retirement regs is drop in pensionable pay, not hours (it's just that dropping hours is the easiest way to acheive the pay drop). And if you've been on sick pay I'm not sure what figure they use to calculate your current pay. So I think this is the time to get professional advice before you start the process.

Your union may be able to help, or if you're on Facebook there's a very helpful group called PenGage public sector pensions. That's a financial advisor company and they would charge for a full personal advice session, but they are really helpful at answering smaller questions like this in the FB group, and have lots of free webinars.

This

I have a 1995 pension and work full time in another industry. I was advised that if I claim it at 60, it will be taxed at 40%.

I am confused, you said you are starting back tomorrow on a phased return but you are asking when do you need to ask her to take you back?

If you are referring to partial retirement then as I said do your research talk to the pensions team, TU and HR. At this stage all I would say to your manager is that you are looking at options.

No but surely with the 10percent drop can they refuse to have a place for you? I don’t really want to ask during my phased return as I don’t really want my illness to have an affect on me coming back to work. Fir instance I don’t know whether they will let me do short shifts they may say no you have to come back on 12shifts

Apologies, I haven't read all the whole thread but there is so much conflicting info about the NHS pension because it is so complex.

If you are on Facebook, join the group NHS & Public Sector Pensions Support. A very knowledgeable lady called Laura (from Pen Gage), runs free seminars on this very topic & she will any questions on the page. You can search the page also, as this has been asked previously.

@EachandEveryone I really think you are confusing two things.

A phased return is allowing you to slowly increase hours over a period of time. They cannot make you go straight in with a 12 hour shift. Ideally your GP provides a fit note stating that you may be fit for work if the following apply. I would expect the GP to say you can start working 2 or 3 hours maximum a day for one or two weeks and then slowly build up by an hour a day/shift each week.

Partial retirement involves agreeing to reduce your salary (hours) by 10% this could be dropping a shift or working shorter days. Again you need to talk to your pensions team, TU rep and HR to understand what your options are.

Remember because you have had cancer you are automatically disabled under the EA2010 and entitled to reasonable adjustments. I know this is a 3rd separate issue but talk to your TU about making a request for a reasonable adjustment, be clear it is not a flexible working request, to reduce your hours/length of shift. You need to co-ordinate this with your request for partial retirement so any reduction in hours as a reasonable adjustment is also the 10% reduction in hours for partial retirement.

You really should have started your own thread rather than posting on the ops.

In the teachers pension scheme if you defer taking your pension, then the monthly amount when you do take it is increased so NHS might be similar, so l think you probably haven’t lost out my not taking your pension at exactly 60.

Someone mentioned taking pension and making extra contributions AVCs as being tax efficient. You might need to check if this is allowed, I know you can’t do pension lump sum recycling and benefit tax wise twice with the same money.

In the teachers pension scheme if you defer taking your pension, then the monthly amount when you do take it is increased so NHS might be similar, so l think you probably haven’t lost out my not taking your pension at exactly 60.

That's the case for the later versions of the NHS pension, but not the 1995 one. If you don't take it at 60 (or 55 for some) it doesn't go up.

If the pension is deferred.you can claim the missed payments as backpay. But if you're still in NHS employment and paying into the pension then there's no backpay of missed pension. That money is lost.