NHS pension Nightmare.

[Pickledonion1999]

I have a deferred NHS pension which I can take at 60 in two years time. I requested a forcast three years ago have based retirement plans on this figure. I have now requested an update and it has come back at half the amount. To say I am devastated is an understatement. I will now have to work many more years longer. How can they get things so wrong ? They are looking into it but now I'm terrified it could drop even lower. has this happened to anyone else? I know I should have checked the first statement more thoroughly. I'm gutted. All those years of hard work and crap mental health because of doing such a difficult job for what ??

Yes it did used to be an excellent final salary scheme I think !

It's a massively complicated calculation.

If you left on 30k then it should be roughly 7k a year plus 20k lump sum.

HOWEVER, 30k is very low for a nurse (I don't think you can be paid that low now!) so you definitely need to check this element of the calculation - and whether it is the highest of the previous three year's salaries etc.

Whatever happens, you will still get this pension at 60, so maybe you can offset your current earnings by dropping a day or two?

I was not a nurse when I left. I think the figure they are now using is 26k. But I was a Nurse in the previous two years. Sorry a bit complex, I was doing two different jobs and in the final year a job which was not Nursing but the charity allowed those in the NHS pension scheme to continue if the break was less than a year so i did .

You still have time to do 12 months in the NHS to get that final figure up... although obviously it's a nightmare at the moment with hardly anyone hiring due to all the redundancies.

Was 30k the highest of your last three years' salaries in the scheme?

I am working in a completely different area now, but thanks anyway. I think my last three years are just so bitty with doing two part time different jobs etc . I was just so unhappy and desperate to leave Nursing I wasn't really thinking straight about the effect on pension.

Aw shame. It is frustrating OP but you are in a job you love now (which is AMAZING in your late fifties - I'm early fifties and feel like I'll never get back into a decent job, so having to freelance). And the decisions you made were right for you at the time. Don't beat yourself up. It's disappointing though!

No, the break is too long. Any return now would mean starting a completely separate pension and would have no effect on the existing one.

OP, the salary used for the calculation is the highest full time equivalent year from the 3 years before you left. And each year is uplifted for inflation to calculate which is highest. So it's possible they should be working from an earlier salary, not the agency one.

What was your nursing band in the period 12-24 months and 24-36 months before you stopped paying in? Use the a CPI inflation calculator to work out how much to increase both of those figures by to get the value when you left. Are either of them higher than your last 12 months' salary?

It does sound as if the sums are unusually complex in your case, so it may be worth paying for a professional calculation. Pengage and I think Weslyan can do them.

Have you logged onto the new NHS pensions portal @OP? I have been out of the NHs for 7 years and managed to log on and see all the calculations including the pot I accrued each year I worked.

If not, call the helpline number on 0300 330 1346. Good luck.

The last three years went something like this.
2019- I started the year working solely in an non NHS job but then moved to another non Nursing job from April to August and this job was a charity which employed a lot of ex NHS staff and had a condition whereby if you were within one year of leaving the NHS pension scheme you could re-join, so I did. I did not know at the time that this job was not going to work out for me and be short term. had I stuck at it I would have been in a much better position !
The year previous to this I was doing a non nursing job with some part time Nursing bank work- I do not think they would use this year.
The year prior to this or at least part of this I was working three days a week in a non nursing job and two days a week at top band 5. Any Nursing work I did in these past three years would have been top band 5.
Someone is meant to be checking things due to the huge discrepancy from previous statement. I am just even more worried now that it could go down further. the latest figure is around 26k which does sound correct for the full time salary for the last job in 2019, although I wa sonly there four months. I guess it is not too much less than a top band 5 would have been at that time, I would need to look up the bands.

I will do this. Thanks.

This will be me if I live to 92. Getting my 1995 pension this year at 55 with SCS and waving goodbye.

That’s not low for a nurse if they’re a band 5 - which the majority of nurses are

Pay scales back to 2018 are on www.nhsemployers.org/historical-pay-library

Yes definitely check online to try and understand what's happened, and carefully check it against your original forecast.

NHS pensions do get their calculations wrong, every forecast they did for me was inaccurate to the tune of £1000s a year. Luckily I'd made myself very familiar with the scheme and complained. They argued back and just closed my complaint, it was a real battle to get it reopened.

They finally admitted they were wrong and corrected the calculation, but even then they got my (early) retirement date wrong by 4 months, and started paying me sooner than I'd said. Gave up on that complaint as it really was like talking to a brick wall.

My advice is to learn as much about whichever scheme you're in as you can.

Jesus's, that's ridiculous. However, your should have checked it every year (sorry).

So sorry this has happened and also sorry that the work stress that led to changing roles has now led to this pension stress.

My initial pension calculation was wrong too. It made my pension look so good the financial advisor's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. I could have just taken it I guess but it says clearly they can claim it back at any time and there would have been tax implications.

Anyway, it was really difficult to sort out. I'm a senior member of staff and normally competent but I remember actually sobbing down the phone to pensions while sat in a hospital staff admin area.

I had worked different amounts of part time around my kids and it is really hard to know if the annual hours in the forecast are correct unless you have kept a record and have all your old payslips.

On the off chance any young NHS workers are reading this my advice in terms of pension is that it comes round quicker than you think, try to keep hours up and steady if you can and keep records.

In my experience it's usually women that take the hit to salaries and hence pension around childcare so a feminist issue. I remind my young female staff about the impact of hours on their pensions. Hopefully they'll thank me one day.

The NHS pension scheme has been hacked to ribbons. A major change landed in April 2018 which raised the normal retirement age to match that of the state pension.

I took early retirement in March 2018 and my pension was reduced by 15% based on what was then normal NHS retirement age of 60 for women. If I'd waited a few more weeks it would have halved as it would have been based on age 67.

It could be that this change also affected op.

That's not correct. The 1995 section age was 60 and has remained as 60 (or 55 if you have special class status) The 2008 section has always been 65. The 2015 section was the same as state pension age from the start. State pension age has gone up since it was brought in (currently 66) but is based on your age, not.your retirement date.

Thank you - I am aware that he state pension is obviously based on age and not related to retirement date. That's not what I said.

I was told at the time that I (and everyone else) would be transferred from the 1995 scheme. The scheme we were to move to would result in normal NHS retirement age increasing to match the state pension age.

I still have my estimates based on pre and post April 2018.

I have just checked the website and it tallies with your assertion, but it also says that Special Classes can still go at 55 - they were already being pushed back by a couple of years in 2018.

There have clearly been further changes since I retired, which appear to right some wrongs brought about between 2015 and 2018.

Good luck everyone!

@BunchOfFlours We were all transferred to the new scheme, but you still get to keep everything you earned under the old scheme - same proportion of your salary, same retirement age. It’s just that after you move you start with a clean slate to build up the rest of your pension.

When you rejoined the pension did they rejoin you into the 2015 section therefore giving you 2 pensions (95 and 2015)? Can you access your Total Reward Statement?

I had this once, I was doing one sessinal job for a day rate - meant to be 7 hours but they had calculated my wte salary based on a 14 hour day - once I got NHS pensions to amend the hourly rate my forecast pension more of less doubled (well the office bit anyway)

Just wanted to say it sounds as if you have grounds for complaint and possibly some degree of compensation.
You could perhaps contact the Pensions Ombudsman and Financial Ombudsman though both would require that you make a formal complaint to NHS Pension Service first.