NHS Superannuation/Pension

jem16

Pont wrote: »

Not too sure the amount I paid in will grow and grow

It has been growing and growing. Deferred pensions grow in line each year by RPI at the moment. Your pension is based on your final salary - that final salary will have been increasing by RPI each year.

Pont wrote: »

Thanks for the posts so far.

Since first posting I've been having a search around, and there seems to be a question surrounding refunds if you paid into the scheme for less than 2 years (mine would have been around 2 years). Has anybody managed to cash their's in as delerium (above) mentions?

If you had less than 2 years service at the time you would have been written to at the time as you would only have had 2 choices - either take a refund or transfer to another scheme. The transfer had to be done within 12 months.

If it was a refund you would have got your contributions back minus tax and NI. I have no idea what a student nurse earned in the 1980s but I can't imagine you'd have got back much.

If you have not already received any refund or transferred out, chances are you had more than 2 years service and became a deferred member.

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Pensions/Documents/Pensions/Leaving_Early_and_Transfering_out_Booklet_(V1)_09.2010_-_Web.pdf

Grandmama

I was a mature Student Nurse in the late 1980's. I was 42 years when I qualified as an RGN in 1988. I paid into Superannuation during the 3 years I was a Student and also for the one year after I worked in the NHS. I left the NHS and forgot all about it. Since then I have been and am working as a Nurse outside the NHS. When I became 60 I checked through all my papers and found my old superannuation information. I did not cash it in when I left the NHS. I claimed through Hesketh House and suprisingly was awarded a small Lump sum and a small Pension. The actual small monthly pension is more than I earned as a Student Nurse! (We were paid a small sum in training in those days).
Never throw any pension papers away, they may turn up very useful in your senior years.

JOHNGT

The preservation period from 1975 up until 1988 was 5 years (not 2 years as it is today), so if you left before 6th April 1988, chances are are that you will have no preserved pension. In other words you would have had to have worked for 5 years to get a preserved pension.

xycom1

Pont wrote: »

Thanks for the posts so far.

Since first posting I've been having a search around, and there seems to be a question surrounding refunds if you paid into the scheme for less than 2 years (mine would have been around 2 years). Has anybody managed to cash their's in as delerium (above) mentions?

I 'worked for the NHS' for a year in 2006, paid into the scheme and the money was refunded back out (minus tax!) a couple of years later when I was enquiring about transferring the funds to a personal pension. My financial advisor dealt with it.

jem16

xycom1 wrote: »

I 'worked for the NHS' for a year in 2006, paid into the scheme and the money was refunded back out (minus tax!) a couple of years later when I was enquiring about transferring the funds to a personal pension. My financial advisor dealt with it.

Why didn't you transfer it?

Andrew_Williams

delerium wrote: »

I'm not sure if you can while you remain in this country but I have recently discovered, while exploring plans to emigrate, that I can take my nhs pension with me to oz and invest it there or cash it in early if i wanted. Again not sure if this is because of the emigration aspect and otherwise it's untouchable, but I suspect it's not as black and white as above posters said as I had alsways thought that I would loose the last 10 years pension contributions if I emigrated.

I have details of the companies who offer this service but they are generally based in oz or nz. Pm me if you want them though.

Hey Delerium

If you are emigrating to OZ then waiting until you have been here for a while before you decide to transfer your UK fund is sensible. They cannot be transferred back if you decided it wasn't for you.

Also there are plenty of Advisers in Australia that can advise on UK Pension Transfers and usually at much lesser cost then UK QROPS transfer companies.

In relation to transferring, yes in Australia superannuation/pensions can be cashed as a 100% lump sum on retirement but UK transfers are still under obligation to HMRC for a period of time and if cashed within this time period some steep penalties apply.

Regards

Andy

dontunderstand

Pont wrote: »

Back in the 1980s I worked as a student nurse for a couple of years. It was compulsory to pay into the NHS Superannuation scheme. Does anybody know if it is possible to withdraw these contributions? If so, how do I go about it?

Thanks.

Hiya, been doing a lot of reading up on nhs pensions (re ill health) & if you had less than 2 yrs you can claim your contributions back. Go on nhsba.co.uk it's all on there.