NHS pension disappointment.

[Stillearninglife]

After 33 years in the NHS I have been battling with pensions as they “lost” years and years of my pension due to “clerical errors “.
Now I have a prediction which I intend on taking at 55.

Seemingly one of the best pensions around, reading of other people’s pensions, it is utterly crap.

33 years with a lump sum of less than £80k then monthly payments of less than £800 per month is so low. All those years at B7 diligently paying in thinking I will be ok financially and it’s just dire.

I left the NHS due to conditions and pay some time ago (2 years ago) so nothing is going into the pot, so I’m taking it at 55 next year.

Anyone had similar experience with NHS pension?

Classic Mumsnet, so many people pilling in with options based on their imagination and inability to read the full thread.

I took my band 3 NHS pension at 55, it's only £350 a month with no lump sum but I am quite happy with that, the decent pension is the carrot the govt. use to keep NHS working more and more for ever diminishing returns.

I know someone who would have been entitled to the best pension (pre 1995 officer status I think it was called?) but opted out as she like to use the money to go on holiday, she is 55 now and has to work another 12 years to get her state pension.

Ahhh I just KNEW there would be a spanner in the works!
Thank you for this information, I had suspected this in fact.

Ill wait to see what they come back with now based on this.

Pffffft it’s a minefield!

At current annuity rates this equates to roughly to an index-linked annuity you could buy aged 55 with approximately £350k (including your lump sum).

If you worked for 33 years that is £884 of pension value for every month you worked during your career. Doesn’t sound that bad!! Far more than many can save or have employers contribute on their behalf.

Paying in extra each month isn't like a savings account. It boosts your guaranteed monthly income for life (pension when you claim it) by a small amount. E.g one year of me paying in an extra 300 pounds a month so 3600 pounds for the year only bought an increase of 200 and something pounds a year on my pension.

I bloody LOVE this!!
Cracking idea is that!
Ooh you lot are marvellous! 🤩

That's not how it works. It will grow at 7% a year on average. You could have double the amount of pension or more if you left it to normal retirement age.

Exactly. She is taking the pension before retirement age. It will be be substantially reduced unless it's enhanced which it isn't.

So, if I take it early, even as a reduced amount, I could potentially make it work for me by investing, earning above what would have been lost by leaving it in other words?
Better in my hands than sitting in a redundant pension account gaining not a lot.

Now that sounds like a plan. I need to consider tax, with good financial advice I could have ISAs on the go and who knows what else…

But by leaving the pension scheme and the NHS SCS is lost.

@Stillearninglife have you tried to contact paymaster general? how many years do you think they have lost??

Not NHS but Civil Service. I retired early due to caring responsibilities. It coincided with a voluntary severance scheme run by my department but due to my age I came under the early retirement rules.

My pension was based on the assumption I would be paying in till I was 60 so my pension at 57 was actuarily reduced to take account of that. I had to pay in a substantial sum (effectively all of my severance lump sum) to preserve it at the predicted level and take it early.

Taking your pension at 55 is very early, is it possible to enhance it using your lump sum?

@Stillearninglife also bear in mind that if you are still working then your tax personal allowance will be used on your wages. Therefore the 800 per month will be taxed at your highest rate. That 800 per month might push you into the 40% tax rate

Sorry but you're being entitled.

Taking a pension at 55 is a pipe dream only a handful of us can actually achieve? And you're moaning its not big enough?

Cry me a river.

Sincerely, someone who will be working until 66. With a private pension. In the private sector.

This is incorrect. You’re right in the sense that the pot itself won’t grow - you’re in a defined benefit scheme. BUT they’ll be paying you more than a decade longer and typically the regular sum isn’t just proportionately less to reflect that, it’s disproportionately less.

Hey @Stillearninglife reckon you a fellow RMN - well done for surviving so long and at B7 - you would have earnt every £ and some !
great to hear you’ve found a good job afterwards - hope u make sense of the very complicated pension, it hurts my brain !

Yes but if you're not taking it, that's a moot point. You need advice this could be worth a lot of money. Start with speaking to them and getting quotes

I left as a Band 5 staff nurse after 30 years, I get £1500 per month, not a huge amount but not bad when combined with state pension.

Respectfully, you are going to have your 800 a month NHS pension, your state pension, and your private pension which will be ‘a country mile’ ahead of the NHS pension…you’ll be rich.

you are part of a generation who will have more money as retirees than the working generation. Pensions are becoming more and more bleak the longer time goes on, so whining about the pension you’ll have which is likely hugely above the average of the next generation is mad.

Also, I’m concerned you don’t 💯 understand your existing pension (no judgement because when I worked through my dad’s with him I didn’t understand his to begin with). I think you need to take some time to discuss it with the provider and look at the alternative projections based on when/how much is taken.

I don’t think that can be correct.

I hadn't seen anyone calling out that SC status was lost by leaving, just that it was taking it early. And lots of people repeating that SC status meant benefits could be taken from 55 without noticing OP was no longer SC. It seems OP had not understood this either.

I don't even work in the NHS! 🤦🏻‍♀️

It will be worth massively more, assuming when you joined the scheme your pensionable age was 60, then you are getting 5 more years of 12x£ 800. ( if it was 65/67 then an even higher reduction applies. You are basically taking a 25% reduction on your pension.
There will be a substantial reduction for this, and even if you have left NHS employment your pension will continue to grow by inflation each year.

It has stopped. Anyone joining the NHS since then has normal retirement age of 67.
This is about those folks in the historic pension who have a special status due to the change that was brought in

@Stillearninglife .
The information you need to get a clear answer uis.

1.Which scheme/ mix of scheme are you in ( and how long in each )
2 How many years full time equivalent have you worked.

1. What was your final salary on leaving.

4 . Have you opted for an increased lump sum . I was a member of 1995 scheme. Worked over 40 years ( but only 25 wte) .My monthly pension was higher than yours but lump sum much lower . I suspect you are getting a reduction for taking some / most of it early, which doesn't affect the lump sum but does affect the annual pension .

Make sure you get an updated assessment based on taking it at 60 instead of 55. Once you know the difference you can then evaluate if you can really make 800 a month for life earn more than the difference. I think it is unlikely, and remember that if you invest it, you cannot have the money in your pocket and invested. There is a balance to be had in retirement, once you no longer have a salary. Also remember that if you take it at 55, it will not increase again at 60, other than any form of index linking.

Nhs pensions chat page on fb has charts which show percentage of pension lost by claiming early- which you will be doing as you've lost special class status.If you don't need the money at 55 I'd suggest you do some sums and compare what pension you'll lose (for life) by what you'll make by investing that claimed pension for the 5 years from 55 to 60 and see which one will be more profitable for you? I did have spe ial class and now get £1200 a month for 24 years service( mixture of band 5, 6,7). I think if you leave it alone then claim it at 60 with no reductions , it will be significantly higher. And if you go for financial advice are sure it's someone who knows about nhs pensions in particular.