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?

But surely the full pension won't be in the 95 pot, so if that pot is taken in full, the other one or two pots will be at a reduced rate (unless the special class applies to all the pots)?

Too many unanswered points in your post. It’s one of the best pensions. If you worked 3 days a week even for 33 years it won’t make you suddenly rolling in cash.

This is an excellent explanation of why the nhs pensions are valuable even if they might not look it at first sight here. The key thing is that £800/month, CPI and index linked is for life. Taking it early means it’s costing the nhs much more which is why there’s a hefty discount as other posters have explained. A private pension pot will deplete and once it’s gone it’s gone.

(I have both an nhs pension and a private pension. Some posters who aren’t familiar with nhs pensions are giving some dangerously inaccurate advice!)

she lost it because she left before she was 55. The information confirming that has been posted on here several times including by me.

@Stillearninglife To me, that looks like a very good pension.

First of all, you are taking a very early retirement at only 55 years old, so your pension is going to be a lot lower than someone retiring at the current standard age of 66.

By retiring more than 10 years early, you are losing 10 years of increased savings. Also keep in mind that if you were under a defined contributions scheme instead, there would be a loss of compound interest. The compounding effect is massive, and money can be expected to double roughly every 7 - 10 years just due to compound interest alone. Therefore, if you had instead been under a defined contributions scheme instead, your pension pot would be less than half what it could be just due to retiring at 55 instead of 66.

As for £800 a month... when you reach the state pension age, you will be receiving around £230 a week, or about £920 a month.

£800 + £920 = £1720, or let's say £20,640 a year.

I don't know whether you're single or a couple (you need less money to retire if you are part of a couple), but let's assume you are single.

As a single person, you need at least £14,400 a year to live. "Moderate" would be £31,300 a year.

So with £20,640, you are a bit above the "minimum"... which seems more than reasonable to me as you are retiring 11 years early on a defined benefits pension.

So unless you are going to tell me you had made mammoth contributions during your time in the NHS, I am struggling to see how this is anything other than a very good pension.

£800 is amazing considering you're retiring over 10 years early.

That doesn’t sound right. Were you part time for a long time?

It probably is right for those figures. Retiring 5yrs ago after 24yrs means starting in 1996. So no special case retirement (abolished in 1995). The 95 scheme is based on years/80 of final salary. For band 8a in 2020 that was 51k. So 24/80 would be £15500 or £1200 a month BEFORE any reductions for claiming 5yrs earlier

There is a massive reduction if you take it at 55 rather than at pension age.

Do you have any in the 1995 scheme?
If so, if you've kept pension active by not taking > 5 year gap in paying in and therefore not been moved to 2015 scheme, you could do 1 locum/bank shift per month for a year to top up the amount your final salary component is calculated on.

It will gain something like 25% if you leave it where it is until your pension age. Could you achieve that through other investments?

My knowledge of NHS pension isn't specialist.. But I'm pretty sure that as you are no longer in post in the NHS, and thus no longer in a role that confers special status, you're no longer able to take your pension at 55 under that status. You actually have to be in the post when you retire to receive the special status.

You’re retiring early that’s why it’s lower than you were hoping for.

My husband is ready to retire too but he’s decided to carry on in his NHS job until he’s 65 for the sake of his pension. Each extra year makes a difference.

How on earth were you paying £900 per month into the superannuation scheme? Were you buying additional years that you haven't yet mentioned? I can't believe you were paying £900 per month.

Were you one of those people who were "encouraged" to opt out of the scheme in the 1990s and did you then join again later and have to pay higher contributions to catch up?

You really need to get help from the NHS Benefits Agency to sort out your NHS superannuation contributions record. Unfortunately, if you haven't kept any records of your employment you may find it difficult to challenge if you think they've got it wrong.

Like previous posters I'd recommend you post on Money Saving Expert pensions board - but try to make sure you give them accurate information - don't clim you had special status if you didn't. Pensions, annuities & retirement planning — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Also you'll find that most high-street so-called pension experts and financial advisors know very little detail of the NHS scheme

This is exactly why Ive declined to pay into NHS Pension....

You are missing out on a lot of free money.

You should be able to arrange an appointment with someone from the pension fund to discuss your options/choices

The pension is the only reason the NHS is worth working for. Your future self won’t thank you

Apologies if it has already been mentioned but its worth having a look at the FB NHS Pension Chat group, lots of useful info and expertise including calculators for taking pension early.

If you've left the NHS and are taking it before aged 60 then you will lose some of it for each year earlier that you are taking it. This is why I am leaving mine until I turn 60. Mine is going to be a similar amount after a similar amount of years but I was part time for a lot of years.

Because you are taking it so early it will be reduced considerably per month, £800 a month for an additional 10 years because of retiring early!

it’s not the years paid in, it’s the taking it early affecting it. If you don’t take it now but leave it until you are 60 you’ll get far more per month, leave it until state pension age and you get the full forecast per month

You may have answered this already but do you need to take it now rather than at 60(?) when it, or most of it, would be unreduced.

Is the RCN any use in helping to explain and/or sort out anything that's cocked up?

Try contacting the pensions ombudsman for help and advice.

You have to be in NHS employment on the day of retirement for it to apply.

You can have a break of up to 5 years and then come back, and retain SCS. But if you've left-left, it's gone.

Why?

They're not financial advisors, they're there to sort errors that haven't been dealt with by the standard complaint system.

It sounds as if the missing years have been found, so there is no error to complain about.