Pension is utterly terrible. Any advice much appreciated due to current panic!

[AuADHD]

I’m 50. I was a registered nurse and have an NHS pension. I’ve not worked in the NHS or paid into that pension since July 2013.
Those savvy with money with be horrified I’m sure but there are reasons for my situation being as it is including ADHD and autism, divorce, financial abuse from my exH, post metal depression after my first child that resulted in me being unable to go back to work as planned when she was 6 months old, terrible money habits in my family so no good role models or education about finances. Since divorce I’ve mainly been looking after my youngest who has autism and ADHD, my mum the who I am her full time carer, and just trying to survive. My physical health has been quite poor throughout my working life with some chronic conditions. All a big mess really.

I wanted to check how much my pension is worth so contacted them then other day. It is as follows:

Normal pension age is 60.
Current values:
pension £2,994.63
lump sum £8,893.87

standard benefits if taking the maximum lump sum:
pension £2,406.40
lump sum 16,042.65

contributions for 2013 up to when I left employment in July:
employee £237.62
employer £602.26

No contributions since. I joined the scheme in 2002 when I was doing my nurse training and worked as an HCA part time.

I have 3 years missing from my NI contributions from when I was at University.

My pension age is 67 according to the government website.

I don’t own any property and am private renting with 2 of my 3 dc. All 3 dc gave additional needs. The middle one will hopefully go to university in 2028. The youngest has a significant inheritance from his father dying so he’s set up well.

I will be a carer for my mum until she passes away. Then it’s me that will be responsible for sorting out everything that follows that which I know will take all my mental and physical reserves. My brother is skip executor but lives too far away to be of any practical assistance.

I want to work when the time comes but currently don’t know what I would like to do. Whatever is available I think! I’d have to do a return to nursing course and I’m not sure at the moment if I want to. It’s an option though. So say in 5 years I might be doing that which would give me hopefully 11 or 12 years of employment to pay into a pension.
There’s a chance I could currently work one day a week between caring for my mum and dc. I suffer from autistic burnout so have to be careful. This time last year was awful for me and I was barely functioning.

I have no savings. I should get around £35,000 in inheritance but it’s not guaranteed.

Caring for my mum suits our family and our needs at the moment and she does pay me out of her attendance allowance. Otherwise I’m on UC, with child benefit for 2 children, housing benefit pays 3/4 of the rent. I work very hard for my mum putting in around 40 hours a week, a fair bit of that is physical stuff like gardening and cleaning. Essentially I’m
running two households. I’m a hard worker and never still. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m work shy.

I feel like I am royally fucked and would be very grateful for any advice as to how to improve my retirement. Dd plans on getting a farm and we’ve joked about a granny annexe but realistically I need a plan. I didn’t expect my life to turn out like this and feel very upset and panicked. Please be gentle.

This is poor advice for most people in OPs situation.
Firstly you can't even take a lump sum from most DB pensions before you start to draw them and it isn't wise to start a reduced draw before need to.
Secondly why pay gaps 12 years early when there is still potential to work those years instead?

Council housing, in my area at least, is much better for older people than young / families with a decent supply of 1 beds in over 60s complexes available, around £100pw.

The OP says they are getting UC which will be giving her NI credits. Plus the only gap she has is from University years and it's far too late to fill that.

It's not necessary to have every year complete to receive a full state pension. The OP needs to check her state pension forecast, but I suspect she will not need any more years.

My mum is 87 and I won’t be caring for her until I retire so I’ve a good few years to work and pay into a pension once I'm
no longer looking after her. My ability to work is greatly impacted by my physical health and autism and adhd. The work I do for mum suits me very much because it fits with my restrictions. I don’t drive which doesn’t help and I can’t afford to learn. I am likely to only be able to work part time to avoid burnout. Burnout deprived me of my GCSEs and a lot of work of years but I know my limits how and work with them. I don’t intend to retire early.
I could do one day a week now.

Don't panic.
In the UK we do not let pensioners starve on the street.
You will get pension credit to top up whatever other pensions you have (if you don't get full state pension).
Once over pension age, you will be a priority for social housing if ever your landlord ends your tenancy.

Yes you will be poor, but you just learn to cut your cloth accordingly, and find what joy you can in life without spending money on non-essentials.

Some people think this attitude to receiving support from the state is immoral, because they believe everyone has a duty to work like an ox to avoid "taking money from the taxpayers".
I do not subscribe to this view. We live in a civilised social democracy and we support pensioners who have spent their life caring for others.

Sorry to hear you've had such a difficult time.

Don't panic- you really aren't in that bad a position. Start by checking your state pension record- missing uni years is fine (you're the same age as me and I will hit my max entitlement this year, and also missed uni years).

On the NHS pension, I'd check the following- 1) do you actually need to take any tax free lump sum? You may find that it suits you better not to- it's not a no-brainer with a DB pension and depends on the commutation rate and your personal circs. 2) how much will your NHS pension increase if you don't start drawing it until state pension age? If you need to work until then anyway, it might make sense to wait and then take the higher income- again it depends on the scheme rules and your own circs. Although it doesn't seem huge, the difference between living on state pension alone and having an additional £3k a year (or maybe more) is really substantial. I'd also really think about returning to the NHS in your shoes as the pension is pretty great and you still have time to increase your pension substantially.

You should also check whether you could be receiving any other benefits Turn2us Benefits Calculator

Might also be worth a chat with Citizen's Advice or Shelter on housing and whether you can apply for a HA home if private renting is becoming unaffordable.

I'm not sure that's the reason... the minimum for pensioners is pretty miserable. "Cutting your cloth" makes it sound doable. Last Winter, the warm spaces in my town were full of older people who couldn't afford to heat their homes. That doesn't feel like cutting your cloth, that's not deciding to take your own coffee from home rather than having a takeaway one. And half the warm places have closed down now, too!

The cost of living is increasing rapidly, and we can't afford for benefits to go in the same direction.

She won't starve on the street, no; but "just being poor" is a lot worse than a lot of people envision it being. I don't think everyone should work themselves to death but I'm also not confident that you'd be able to cover all "non-essentials" on state benefits.

Generally, the people who support pensioners are their family and friends, unless they've got their own financial resources to do so.

Well look on the bright side - with climate change we don't get the long freezing winters that we used to!

But I take your point about bills. With ever-rising fuel costs affecting every aspect of the economy, we will all be getting poorer every decade for centuries to come. Pensioners and anyone else on UC will be feeling the sharp end of this widespread and pervasive decline in living standards.

Thank you both for your kindness. I’m just in a state of panic at the moment but you have both helped with your suggestions and information.
If I wasn’t looking after my mum then the state would be paying out for a care home for her which costs a lot more than what I get in UC as her carer.
My main worry is housing. I currently live in a 3/4 bed privately rented house in a lovely area close to my mum. She only has a one bed and we can’t move in together due to my house layout and her disabilities. My house is below market value because the landlord won’t do repairs but that’s another thread in itself. A smaller property would cost just as much here.

I am going to speak to the housing people and find out my options should the landlord sell up or it becomes unaffordable.
Things will change if/when ds goes to uni and also when dd goes. Or they leave home. I won’t be able to afford this property then.

My NI contributions are full except for 3 uni years.

I will phone the pension people and ask if I have to take a lump sum and also how much it will likely increase by 60 which is when the normal pension age is.

You will get pension credit to top up whatever other pensions you have (if you don't get full state pension).

Will she? I think it's foolish to expect pension credit, in seventeen years' time. Even if it does exist in 2043, OP may not be eligible.

My mum receives the state pension, plus a small pension of less than £70 a month that was my dad’s and attendance allowance. Up until a couple of years ago she was paying an interest only mortgage and doing ok on that. She gets the winter fuel allowance and a tiny amount of pension credit. She might be poor by mumsnet standards but she can afford what she needs. Her food shop is from Waitrose and M&S and her heating is on 14 hours a day in winter with no struggle to pay the bills.
Really it’s my housing situation that’s causing the panic.

So you should be fine for a full state pension (do check it though if you haven't) plus the very valuable NHS pension plus whatever additional pension you can manage over the next 17 years, It's really not bad at all.

Start getting some advice on the housing issue- again, you have time to get yourself in a much stronger position.

I think you are hoping for solutions that wont involve you working, but alas there wont be any. It might suit you and your family to have you care for your mum, but you don't have the luxury of choice - the state isnt required to fund you to continue to this and fund your retirement on top.

Your best bet is to either:

• do enough caring to claim carers allowance thus getting NI credits & protect your state pension
• do less of the gardening/cleaning etc for your mum (have her pay outside help) and do some part time work.

Does your mum still pay towards her mortgage?

If you want a better pension, you need to work. That’s all there is to it. If you can clean and garden for your mum and manage your own massive house, why not set up a cleaning and/or gardening business?

I don’t have a massive house. It’s one decent bedroom and 3 slightly bigger than a box room. I do far more for my mum than garden and clean.
I have clearly stated that I want to work. I have also clearly stated my ability to do so is limited and will remain so but that once my mum passes away I will be working. Some posters are so eager to stick the knife in that they fail to read what has been said. Yes, I know my OP is littered with typos but I can’t edit on my phone for some reason.

Don’t take your NHS pension at 55 OP you’ll lose 25% of the figures you’ve posted upthread. Ignore the posters who said for you to do this. Take it on your 60th birthday and nothing is reduced at all. If you do go back into the NHS scheme at some point it won’t be the 1995 one you were formerly in. It’ll be the 2015 (or more accurately the 2022) scheme. Make sure you go back at the same or higher banding though as that salary is used to calculate your final salary 1995 scheme payout -the one you’ve posted upthread.

As your mum owns her own house, is it likely you'll inherit some of the proceeds before you retire? Do you have siblings? Has she still got a mortgage?

She owns her house but has a lifetime mortgage which needs paying back. There should be around £35,000 in inheritance for me. I have siblings so we should get that each depending on the housing market at the time. Currently that’s what we’d stand to get in inheritance.

We had a thread like this the other day.

Essentially, your best bet is to return to the NHS or local government. The pension you’ll accrue will be greater than anything you can invest in, with the equivalent contribution.

Terrible suggestion

Ok. So I’ve calmed the fuck down after the two lovely posters commented. It was just a shock to see it was so crap and I’ve been panicking since.
When ds was still a toddler I looked at doing a return to practice course. It went by the wayside for various reasons and I ended up working for someone for around a year then my mum
needed me so I’ve been doing that for 4.5 years now. I actually hold some supposedly impressive nursing qualifications that make those with them very attractive to employers. It has just felt overwhelming to even think about while Ds was younger. Now he’s at secondary school and settling in much better than expected and we are both on ADHD medication it feels doable. Or at least not quite so overwhelming. Those who are neurotypical will find it hard to understand the overwhelm, anxiety and burnout that comes naturally to us.
So my plan is to do a return to practice course, which is much shorter than I thought it was, and return to work part time. Full time isn’t achievable due to health issues. I anticipate this being in 5 years, for the sake of argument, which would give me 5 years of service before I can draw my NHS pension or 12 years if I carry on working until my state pension age. I have the potential to double my current service time which would make a huge difference.

Living situation wise I’m
still worried but I’ll speak to the local housing team and find out how that all works. Of course once I have inheritance I can use that to pay rent.

I feel like I have a plan now. Still vague but something I can action and that reduces my anxiety.

Thank you to those who were informative and kind, I appreciate it.

Sounds like a great plan OP. Great that you have thought about it with enough time to sort it out too. It's worth considering how much annual retirement income you are targeting and work towards that.

Your pension quote seems too low. I was on a low-ish salary, 60% hours, and accrued the equivalent of 2k a year after 5 years. That's a civil service one but it shouldn't be that different.

Regarding living situation, you might find that once you are over 60 you could find something via the council, either because you’ll meet the criteria of some over 60s schemes, or because you’ll meet would be looking for a smaller place (1 bed flight in less demand than 3 bed house).

There's been a lot of complaints about NHS pension errors

It might be worth looking into that because Ihave they calculated yours right?