NHS pension, can i get a refund?

I have paid into my NHS pension for 4 years now, am leaving the NHS next week and so a freeze will be put on my pension. I am still in quite alot of debt from my student days, and it seems crazy that I have all that money sat in the pension unable to get to it, when i'm still paying off debt and paying interest.
Does anyone know of any way of me getting to that money before i retire? Or is there no way out and I should read about things more carefully before signing up to them?!!
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  • jem16
    jem16 Posts: 19,397
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    sammie1975 wrote: »
    I have paid into my NHS pension for 4 years now, am leaving the NHS next week and so a freeze will be put on my pension.

    It won't be frozen. It will continue to grow in line with inflation.
    Does anyone know of any way of me getting to that money before i retire?

    You will be able to access it on the scheme's retiral date, 60 or 55.
    Or is there no way out and I should read about things more carefully before signing up to them?!!

    Fraid so.
  • firesidemaid
    firesidemaid Posts: 2,129
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    i have looked the the scheme carefully recently as there have been a lot of changes.

    you can only claim a refund if you have been in the scheme less than 2 years.

    it will go up in line with the retail price index - which i believe is better than inflation.

    4 years is a 1/10th of an nhs pension - nothing to be sneezed at.

    do you think you will ever rejoin the nhs at any time - as you then just add to it, it is an excellent scheme.

    at the moment your normal nhs retirement age is 60 and will be if you never return. if you go back into the nhs again after 5 years or more this will change to 65 - something to bear in mind.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,040
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    Or is there no way out and I should read about things more carefully before signing up to them?!!

    You would have been a fool not to join the NHS scheme. However, had you read the scheme booklet you would have known. So, yes you should read things more carefully but its not a bad outcome in this case.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • meester
    meester Posts: 1,879 Forumite
    Um, this is possibly the worst thing you could do.

    See this is what really p1sses me off about publicly funded pensions.

    Millions people are getting gold-plated pensions funded (or not) out of billions of pounds of public money. Nobody in the private sector would be crazy enough to offer anything so good. Yet it seems that most of the people in receipt of this incredible largesse have no idea how lucky they are.

    So why do we bother???? Just scrap the expensive pensions and stick a bit extra on the salaries instead. It's quite clear that the pensions are very poor value in that they cost us a fortune and yet recipients don't think they are worth anything more than what they personally pay into them.

    The message should get through to people 'the government is giving you the best pension outside the House of Commons, you are very lucky, this is equivalent to a 30% payrise'. But it clearly doesn't and won't, and so it's just a big waste of money. It's like signing somebody up for £20k and then secretly paying them £25k and hoping they won't notice.
  • Hi:
    I am an overseas worker working in NHS but now leaving NHS to return to my country. I have been contributing to the NHS pensions scheme for more than 3-years. Am I able to get a refund for my contributions.

    Thanks

    Sufi
  • meester wrote: »
    Yet it seems that most of the people in receipt of this incredible largesse have no idea how lucky they are....

    ... recipients don't think they are worth anything more than what they personally pay into them.

    .


    I was always very, very thankful that I was able to join the Local Government Pension Scheme (which I contributed to and IS funded) and it was one of the reasons I would never have left LG other than to take early retirement. I always knew what a good Pension Scheme it was.

    When I first applied to join, it was before the rules changed which said part-timers mustn't be treated any differently to full-timers and I was told I couldn't join as I did not have set hours. I argued that I was on a permanent contract and in the event of my having no work (which never happened) I would get paid the equivalent of ten hours and I should be able to join the Pension Scheme based on this. Eventually they agreed with me and let me join; not long after that I went full-time.

    So you see some of us DO know how valuable a public service Pension Scheme is and actually fought to join! :)
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
  • jem16
    jem16 Posts: 19,397
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    Hi:
    I am an overseas worker working in NHS but now leaving NHS to return to my country. I have been contributing to the NHS pensions scheme for more than 3-years. Am I able to get a refund for my contributions.

    Thanks

    Sufi

    No you can't get a refund as you have over 2 years of contributions.
  • meester wrote: »
    Um, this is possibly the worst thing you could do.

    The message should get through to people 'the government is giving you the best pension outside the House of Commons, you are very lucky, this is equivalent to a 30% payrise'. But it clearly doesn't and won't, and so it's just a big waste of money. It's like signing somebody up for £20k and then secretly paying them £25k and hoping they won't notice.

    I've been in the NHS for over 30 years and in my experience most staff are well aware of the benefit of the pension scheme. The new scheme is still an incentive for staff to join the service.
    The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.
    Wayne Dyer
  • krisskross
    krisskross Posts: 7,677 Forumite
    I get £1000 a month pension after 21 years service. Index linked so increases every year. Seems pretty good to me.
  • I have been with the scheme for a year and a half, now i am planning to leave it since my working visa will be expiring soon. So how do i leave the scheme and how much will i get after all the contributions that i have made? Are there any taxes to be payed, deductions or whatsoever?

    Thanks
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