Nhs pensions. Am I being thick?

[Fannypriceisdull]

Long time lurker first time poster. Not quite sure where to go with this and I don't know any pension people irl. I worked in admin for nhs for 6 years (i don't work there anymore) I have a query about my pension and I don't think it's been answered properly, so I need an alternative perspective or someone to tell me I'm being thick..... my pension is valued at about 5k after 6 years. I thought this sounded low so I worked out I'd paid over 20k into my pension. I sent the figures to my employer querying it and they said, you don't pay that into the pension, thats what you pay to actually be in the pension..... and the 5k figure is correct. Is this correct, or am I being thick?

Isn't the NHS is a defined benefit scheme? If so, there is no such thing as a "pension pot".

The £5k may be the annual benefit that you have accrued?

That will be your annual pension so assuming you live more than 4 years you will get back more than you’ve paid in

Do you have a statement or an online screenshot or something?
It's likely to be an annual figure as that's how NHS/ Teachers/ local government pensions are quoted, there is no total pot figure.
Do you have an online account?

NHS pensions are defined benefit schemes - you and your employer pay in and you get a set (plus an updating for inflation) amount every year from your scheme’s set retirement age.

Most pensions outside the public sector are defined contribution schemes - you and your employer pay in and that goes into a pot which grows over time through investment. You can then draw on that pot to support your retirement.

Your £5k estimate sounds very much like a defined benefit scheme; you’d be paid that amount each year.

It is a career average for the time you have put in. Like pp have said if you retire at 67 and live for 20 years you will have had 100k paid back to you. You do not get a lump sum pot of money from it when you retire but a monthly payment.

I am surprised you have paid 20k in over 6 years to be honest what band were you?

£6k a year into NHS pension wouldn’t be excessive on a band 5/6 . As others have said, NHS pension doesn’t grow in a pension pot, what you pay in doesn’t necessarily reflect what you get back, it’s based on your annual wage ( these days career average, pre 2015 pension change,based on best salary of last three years employment)

So this will be 5k per annum so say you can take it at 60 and you live 20 years its will be 5k x 20 which is far more than you paid in!
There are some great facebook pages which cover this, with experts available to answer any specific questions. However there is lots of info in there content pages.

My Civil Service pension costs me nearly £6k pa. Public sector pensions might be a good deal to the employee, providing you live long enough of course, but they also come with high contributions.

At the risk of sounding like a Viz top tip, you too could have a good pension if you paid in hundreds of pounds a month and worked in a job where it was considered acceptable to pay you less because of the promise of a decent pension.

Thanks all! The TRS isn't clear at all that, that is a yearly payment, I thought it might be, but that makes so much more sense. I've had such a nightmare with NHS pensions trying to get this far! If you don't work in the NHS anymore it's so much more difficult to access things.

You need to access the full information.
Do you not either have an online account or an annual statement?
You need proper confirmation.

What grade were you when you left and were you FT? That would enable someone here to see if £5k is in the right ballpark.

I was a b4 at top of scale when i left and FT I have a paper statement, I queried the figures as initially as they had me down as earning 70k in the first year I was there.... they said they only go off the figures my employer sent them. My employer said the figure was wrong (no shit) and gave me a differrent figure.....