nhs pension contributions

chella

Hi does anyone know what happens if you leave the NHS with less than one year of paying towards the pension. Are you able to request to have the money back or does it follow you to your next employment / do the nhs transfer it?

JoeCrystal

chella wrote: »

Hi does anyone know what happens if you leave the NHS with less than one year of paying towards the pension. Are you able to request to have the money back or does it follow you to your next employment / do the nhs transfer it?

Well then, ask the NHS pension folks
They are better placed to answer your questions!

Cheers,
Joe

chella

what a completely pointless answer!!!!!:rotfl:

this is a forum for advice and shockingly I asked the question as I hoped someone who was online may be able to answer the question or give me some idea.

lawriejones1

Yes, under a year you can usually claim your contributions back. I would assume some sort of administration fee and you'd be a bit silly to do so (unless you are leaving the NHS).

jayk

Yes you can claim contribution back if less than 2 years. However it was not pointless in being advised to contact NHS Pension service as rules do change and they would also be able to give you up to date information on amount you have paid in and total to be claimed, minus charge.

In addition rules may have changed if in the 2008 scheme rather than 1995 scheme. You can also download request form from them.

atush

While you can claim your contributions back, you will lose the employer's contributions and will be taxed at your highest rate on it. So it would be best to transfer it if you can.

Who is your new employer? Is it Publi Service?

RichandJ

Guys

If you are going to jump in quickly & tell people what to do/what happens then do them the courtesy of actually knowing what you're talking about.

If someone leaves a (still) contracted out final salary pension such as the LGPS with a right to a refund, there is no 'charge' applicable, they can receive their gross contributions back LESS the Certified Amount (look it up, I can't be bothered) LESS tax on the balance.

Thank you for listening.

atush

And you can acknowledge we said some of that (ie they would have tax deducted etc).

Why don't you chime in with something more helpful? Like maybe can they transfer it, or must they lose all the employers contribs and tax?

hyubh

chella wrote: »

Hi does anyone know what happens if you leave the NHS with less than one year of paying towards the pension. Are you able to request to have the money back or does it follow you to your next employment / do the nhs transfer it?

What an odd thread this has turned out to be! Can I suggest everyone concerned puts a stop to this opposite-side-of-the-bed experiment, and gets up from their normal side tomorrow? Anyhow, the minimum length of time you must be a member of the NHS scheme to earn an NHS pension is two years (as an aside, it's currently only 3 months in the LGPS, so I would be careful at using the LGPS as a guide). There are exceptions, but they don't appear applicable to you.

That said, when a person leaves with less than two years membership they have two options: request a refund of their own contributions less (as Richard says) the tax and NI saved from (a) paying pension contributions and (b) being a member of a contracted out pension scheme (*), or arrange for a transfer out into another scheme (this won't happen automatically - you need to instruct the new scheme to approach NHS pensions). In contrast to the refund option, a transfer out will be gross not net of employer contributions, and you also won't suffer from having tax and CEP reclaimed.

(*) You get tax relief on any sort of pension contributions. At present, NHS scheme members also pay lower NI contributions than they would otherwise do because they do not accure a State Second Pension (instead, the NHS scheme will provide at least as good benefits as being contracted in to the State Second Pension). When you have a refund, both these benefits are retrospectively taken away.

RichandJ

I went a bit OTT. This normally happens after a day being a pensions geek & the odd beer to recover. Apologies to anyone I offended. Probably happen again next week though.

Just call me Mr Irritable. Or Irritant. Or Irritating. As you prefer.

atush

Ok, irritable, see you next friday