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?

The vitriol is quite shocking. I know lots of people accessing their private/company pensions at 55.

There are vanishingly few NHS staff still with SCS. As an example, I don’t have it (qualifying period was stopped in 1995 and I qualified 6 months later) and have been an NHS employee for 30 years.

You don’t get more money taking it early, it’s reduced so over time the payments even out. There is an advantage in taking it earlier of course if you don’t live long into retirement. Working in the NHS can come with chronic physical and emotional strain and I’ve known many colleagues in poor health not having many years in retirement. I’ll be taking my maximum lump sum and accessing my pension early as it’s infuriating to hear about people dying without getting back what they paid in. My adult years have seen a huge growth in house prices and if I could go back in time I’d have ploughed my money into property rather than pension, even with most of my years in the 1995 scheme. The 2015 scheme is a joke.

@Icebreakhell totally agree with most of what you have said.

Investing in property would have been another option, but of course there is no death in service, or dependents pension from property. Some of that could have been worked around with life assurance, but that could be costly.

I don’t think the 2015 pension is as bad as people think, due to the accrual rate which of course means the pension builds up far quicker. If you took it at 60, the reduction would be around 29%. I am waiting with bated breath to see what my pension will look like with the McCloud remedy as I had tapered protection and was only in 2015 for a short time. I suspect that there will not be a great deal of difference between the options even taking into account reduction for early payment of 2015. Although I have to wait until December 26 to receive my options.

I spent ages deciding on what level of lump sum to take. There is longevity in my family on both sides and I had no mortgage etc to pay off, or other demands on it, so I ended up opting for an amount between the minimum and maximum after doing a lot of financial planning and working through how much I needed my monthly pension to be. But there is no wrong or right answer. Most of my colleagues retiring opted to take the maximum lump sum, but tbh most didn’t think it through.

The apathy is equally shocking, not from the junior Dr's or Cons but from Nurses .
The strikes were just a damp squib here but the moaning carries on ...

@Stillearninglife
I guess you have to consider either hanging on where you are and hoping for the best or moving back to the NHS quickly so that you regain SCS but as you say no jobs currently.
All the best

@Allthings

When did you take your pension ?

Thanks. I’m just going off my own personal circumstances, not advocating for what others should do. Everyone’s needs and circumstances are different. For example house prices are much more volatile now but in my working life have risen exponentially. My family have not lived into a great old age. I also didn’t take into account when I took the pension that it would be vulnerable to government meddling. I’m still amazed the unions accepted this. Most of us have not been aware of our pension options as only recently have we had TWS to look at, which also isn’t very clear. I think it was a couple of decades (when coalition government downgraded our pensions) before I had any contact whatsoever about my pension.

@FeatherDawn last summer (at NPA). I was a deferred member.

I'm talking about doctor strikes - whilst they weren't mentioned in the press, I know a lot of consultants for whom the pension issues were the final straw that made them participate in the strikes.

there is an excellent facebook page called MHS pensions have a look there they have great advice

Thanks @Allthings
I'm also waiting to hear, any enquiries have been met with a generic message.
How did you find out your date ?

@FeatherDawn the info is on NHSBAS pensions website

I think £800 a month is wonderful! I get £192 per month,so had to work till 66 which was hard with rheumatoid arthritis. I worked for NHS for 38 years,but couldn't afford to put in to pension for some of those due to being single parent.
When added to my state pension I am now on more than when I worked, its brilliant! Just remember, you do lose a big percent of pension if you go early, I think its 6% for going one year early 11% two years early etc. So if you go at 55,well you will be well down on what you could get, but also remember that whatever you get now will be added to when you get state pension.

You've taken your pension at the earliest opportunity. For every year you take it early it reduces by about 10 percent. By taking it 10 years early it's half what it would be if you waited until 65/ SRA

Fantastic thank you
I contacted them directly a while ago and got the blah blah no idea generic message

Will be October hopefully

Go back, work till 60 then take your lump sum and pension. That’ll make a massive difference

They lost mine. It was outsourced - very convenient and said they couldn’t find it I suspect this happens frequently

You will probably get paid more years in retirement, that what you worked in the NHS. So not so bad. Leave it until you are 67, like most people are having to and it will grow for another 12 years.

Leave it until you are 67, like most people are having to and it will grow for another 12 years.

No. It won't.

I do wish people who don't understand the NHS pension would refrain from commenting. There is so much misinformation being given here.

Absolutely NOT.
no way on Gods green earth would I go back to the NHS.
Round 2 will definitely and absolutely be the death of me.

I left the NHS in 1994 due to ill health
I was about 30.
I got a small lump sum but get more than £800 a month, I'm 60 this year!

NHS pension is much different to most pensions. It is reduced because she is taking it early and will be much higher monthly if she takes it at retirement age rather than 10 years early.

Five years early, not 10. The 1995 section NPA is 60.

Missed the part where most of it was in the 95 scheme, but even then 5 years early is a big reduction in value.

Yes, it's about a 20% cut - a significant chunk.

I'm surprised at the 800 for 33 years. It doesn't seem a lot for your work. I get double that for 24 years, just taken mine at 60 (state pension age is 67) I'm partly protected, joined pre 2007. Had 22 years in the old scheme (i.e. up to 2022 - because of McCloud), so just 2 years in 2015 scheme. I'd have got more if I'd taken it at 67 but not massively more, plus I have been able to retire. Mine is basically same public pensions scheme but HEI Teachers, HE grade 8. Certain I did less than a front line nurse and for nearly a decade less.

@FolkWays there is no late retirement factor in the NHS 95 pension scheme, so there is no sense whatsoever in not taking it NPA (60). If an active member waited until 67, they would loose 7 years of payment.

OP is in a slightly different position as a deferred member as the rules currently allow a late claim to be backdated, but there would only be a small uplift each year.

I do agree that something doesn’t look right with the figures OP has presented. The lump sum and monthly payments do not add up.