Who do I contact to increase my civil service pension?

[JacknDiane]

Im just over the limit that takes me to 40% tax bracket. I read on Martin Lewis that increasing pension contributions will bring me back to the lower tax band.

How do I go about this? I work remotely and never actually see any managers. But maybe its not them i contact anyway?

If anyone works in the civil service and can advise me id really appreciate it, thank you.

In my agency, you would contact HR.

I’m in USS pension scheme. We can just increase pension contributions online with uss website. Have you looked at your pension website?

Just to add though we can only increase out defined contribution element not our defined benefit element. That’s fixed.

Which scheme is it? I suspect you'd have to go direct to whoever administers it, which is impossible at the mo if it's Capita/MyCSP. But I'd start with your dept's HR shared services.

Im not sure what scheme it is, I've only been in it a few years.

Ask HR what scheme it is then.

Look on METIS guidance or raise a query with SSC then check the guidance on the Capita website. (Then get in the queue for anything requiring input from Capita).

And you can usually only do this once a year

As mentioned above, additional contribution will not go towards increasing your defined benefit pension. I am not sure what return you’ll get on the defined contribution element if the scheme.

You might be better off putting the money into a SIPP. In doing this, you don’t need to involve your employer. The SIPP provider will automatically organise the 20% tax rebate to be added to your account. You then can then complete a tax return to show your adjusted net income plus receive a rebate on the excess tax paid.

If you don’t already complete a tax return and additional pension contributions are the only reason you need to complete one, the online form is likely to take a very short time to complete. HMRC populate it automatically with all your PAYE information so there will be little data for you to enter.

Agree with this.
Rather than have all your eggs in one basket I would look at paying into a SIPP

If your finances are straightforward the tax return form isn't that much hassle

Additional Voluntary Contributions is basically like a SIPP but your employer deducts directly from your salary and you buy into a defined contribution pension. The current provider is Legal and General. It's hassle free and I just contacted my HR and there is a form I fill in where you can either have a % or set amount deducted from your salary each month. I can change the amounts whenever I like with a months notice but there are only a limited range of funds to buy into so depends how much risk you want to take and growth potential.

When I started in the CS 20 years ago I signed up to the additional pension but you are basically buying extra defined benefit pension and the post 2022 scheme means you are penalized for taking before your state pension age so for me I prefer the AVC as an opportunity to take earlier and bridge the gap between my state pension age and when I might want to take partial retirement and reduce my hours.

Assuming you are on a defined benifit scheme, id set yourself up with a SIPP, and sort it all yourself. You'll need to get HMRC to top up the 40% tax - 20% will go in automatically. But you'll get much more flexibility and choice going that route.

Mine is with vanguard, but there are loads of providers.

I would put the extra over into a SIPP. You can set one up online. As others have mentioned not having all eggs in one basket and simplicity is the benefit.

Thanks everyone

@DandelionClockSeeds, what do uou mean by getting HMRC to top up the40% tax?

If you put £80 into a SIPP, the provider automatically tops it up to £100, as it has come from taxed salary - if you earnt 100, you got 80 (minus some NI, student loan) in your bank. If you put that into a SIPP, it gets made upto the original 100. But yours will have been taxed at 40%, and to get that tax back, you need to go through HMRC.

It's not as complicated as it sounds!

I agree that you should look into putting that money into a SIPP instead. You have more control over what it can be invested in and can take it before state pension age if you wish without it affecting your other pension

If you do still want to top up a civil service pension after what has been said previously, there’s a form on the website. There’s a deadline of early Feb for monthly payments starting the April just gone so you won’t be able to set that up for a while.

Some incorrect information on this thread.

You can increase your DB pension in the civil service scheme by buying extra pension. You can also pay more to enable your to take your pension early. What your additional contributions get you depends on your age- there used to be a calculator on the website but not sure whether Capita has one yet. by way of example, I’m 50 and pay an extra £1k a month which buys me roughly £1k additional pension each year. (So the right to an additional £1k income costs me £12k.) There are limits on when you can start buying extra or early pension.

You can also pay AVCs- the CS provider is L&G. This gives you an ordinary DC pension in addition to your DB pension. (You could of course also open a Sipp.) The DC pension is separate from the DB pension and you can take it whenever you want (post 57 or 58)- you don’t need to take it at the same time as the DB pension.

Wherever I’ve worked in the CS, all of this has just been managed by payroll - you don’t need to contact Capita.

There will be an HR department surely? Can't you ask your manager? You sound very cut off.

Thanks everyone

@Brainworm what do you mean about getting a rebate on tax paid

Also to note that if you pay money into a SIPP from net income that would have been subject to NI which you can’t reclaim (just the income tax) so if you don’t mind your money going into the standard work DC pension offering you save a bit more doing it that way I think

That's good to know thanks