Civil Service Pension - no more lump sum, what to do?

saxmund

Dave81 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am on the Premium Pension, which I top up with added years of 3.14% a month, on top of this I have a AVC with Scottish Widows (the civil service one) this is at 5% per month. I can retire at 60 which is I think 2049 but may work past that.

What I would like to know is there a calculator anywhere that I could use to get a rough estimate as to how much I may be looking at getting when I retire. I have looked at my last 2 years pension forecasts but would prefer a calculator I could play with.

The added years will buy you a certain number of years' pension by the time you reach 60, they will have told you this when you took out the AYs contract - or if you speak to your pensions administrators they can tell you this. I presume SW will give you some dort of projection as well.

Andy_L

Dave81 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am on the Premium Pension, which I top up with added years of 3.14% a month, on top of this I have a AVC with Scottish Widows (the civil service one) this is at 5% per month. I can retire at 60 which is I think 2049 but may work past that.

What I would like to know is there a calculator anywhere that I could use to get a rough estimate as to how much I may be looking at getting when I retire. I have looked at my last 2 years pension forecasts but would prefer a calculator I could play with.

http://www.civilservice-pensions.gov.uk/Calculators.aspx

markeymark

Andy_L wrote: »

Sorry, those ages should have been (as you're in classic)
earliest you cn take pension is 55, if it's before 60 you will suffer....

i thought the earliest you could leave on classic scheme was 50?

Andy_L

markeymark wrote: »

i thought the earliest you could leave on classic scheme was 50?

Lets change that number again . Yes it's currently 50 (for Classic) although the change in the law in 2010 will make it 55.

Tirian

Am about to join the civil service after 6 yrs or so in private sector. I've been paying about 10% of salary into a Norwich Union stakeholder pension scheme during that time. Probably not as much as I should, I know, but I have also been putting aside about 5% to save towards a house deposit and it's about as much as I can afford without making things very difficult for myself!

Anyway ... had a brief look at the CS pensions schemes on offer. Am I missing something important, or is the nuvos scheme just a lot better than the partnership one? I mean, 3.5% from me + 17%-25% from employer (nuvos) seems a hell of a lot better than 3% from me and 9.5% from employer (partnership; I am 29).

Is there something lurking in the small print, or some luciferan clause elsewhere in the nuvos agreement - or is it just better all round?

Andy_L

Now that Nuvos has done away with the "pension trap" there's no real benefit to the partnership scheme.

The only slight benefits I can see is that:
1. the Government of the day can't renege/default on it's commitments as you actually have a pot of money in your name &
2. there's a clause in Nuvos that if the employers (pseudo-)contribution rises above x% (I think 20% but don't quote me) the increase will be shared between employer & employee.

It only exists because it's a legal requirement as there are some CS who can't join Nuvos.

worrypants

Andy_L wrote: »

Lets change that number again . Yes it's currently 50 (for Classic) although the change in the law in 2010 will make it 55.

does the cahnge in the law apply to new civil servants?

I joined in 1980 and left in 2005 and i want to take my pension in 2011 when im 50

does this mean I now will have to wait until 55:mad:

hope not
any advice hugely appreciated

mark5

the change in age to 55 is for all pensions and not just civil service ones.

kindofagilr

worrypants wrote: »

does the cahnge in the law apply to new civil servants?

I joined in 1980 and left in 2005 and i want to take my pension in 2011 when im 50

does this mean I now will have to wait until 55:mad:

hope not
any advice hugely appreciated

I'm sorry I dont actually know, but it might be a rolling change like it is with the SP (going from 60 to 65 for women)

taliesin

As Mark5 said months ago, it's a "big bang" change, not a rolling one.