NHS Special Class

LookingForwardToRetiremet

Hello All,

I would welcome thoughts on below:


I have special class and am in the 95 cohort so can retire at 55 on final salary; best of the last three years is my understanding.
So the best x 1 year from my retirement date as opposed to best average over the x 3 years ????
If I don't retire on my 55 birthday and stay on for a few months would that have any impact on my special class? Can I decide to go and take my pension at 56 or is it go at 55 or you have to wait to take it at 60?


If I took a higher band for any one of the three years prior to my retirement date would my pension be based on that ?
If I also moved to work in London for the year would the London allowance be taken in the equation for working out my final pension?


I'd be really grateful to anyone who has knowledge or recent experience .


Thank you in advance

fastestlouigie

LookingForwardToRetiremet wrote: »

Hello All,

I would welcome thoughts on below:
I have special class and am in the 95 cohort so can retire at 55 on final salary; best of the last three years is my understanding.
So the best x 1 year from my retirement date as opposed to best average over the x 3 years ????
If I don't retire on my 55 birthday and stay on for a few months would that have any impact on my special class? Can I decide to go and take my pension at 56 or is it go at 55 or you have to wait to take it at 60?
If I took a higher band for any one of the three years prior to my retirement date would my pension be based on that ?
If I also moved to work in London for the year would the London allowance be taken in the equation for working out my final pension?
I'd be really grateful to anyone who has knowledge or recent experience .
Thank you in advance

I would say that you really should contact your employer's Pension Manager/department, as there are large gaps in your knowledge of the scheme. You don't say when you are due to retire, i.e. what age you are now? This might help people look at whether other questions arise that you should also be considering, e.g. Choice 2/move to the 2015 scheme.
I would start with going to the NHS Pensions website and downloading the latest scheme guide-there's a link when you go to the nhsbsa.nhs.uk main (pensions) page. Do take some time reading through the guide, it is laid out clearly and will assist you in grasping the basics. Also, the nhsbsa website has a wealth of information but make sure you're looking at stuff that applies only to the 1995 scheme.




"So the best x 1 year from my retirement date as opposed to best average over the x 3 years ????"
This is not an average, it's the best year of those last 3 years.

"If I don't retire on my 55 birthday and stay on for a few months would that have any impact on my special class? Can I decide to go and take my pension at 56 or is it go at 55 or you have to wait to take it at 60?"
No, retiring later shouldn't affect your SC and you wouldn't have to wait until 60 before taking the pension (you do know 55 is the minimum pension age for SC's in the 1995 scheme?) but bear in mind that you can only accrue a maximum of 45 years service in the scheme-this can happen rapidly when you're doubling up after 20 years as an MHO!:rotfl:

"If I took a higher band for any one of the three years prior to my retirement date would my pension be based on that ?"
Yes it would.

"If I also moved to work in London for the year would the London allowance be taken in the equation for working out my final pension?"
Yes it would, it's classed as pensionable pay. I work in a "fringe of London" area and the £1600 shows on my pension statement.

Did you know that you can now look at your pension statement via the Government Gateway? Once you've registered (a bit of a palaver, you have to get a code through the post once you've applied online), you can see stuff such as the annual statement and hypothetical cost of your pension in the private sector. Spoiler alert for the latter? The numbers are huge!
Some NHS employees can also access the statement via their employers website. Once you get into the website, it's called TRS (Total Rewards Statements). I can get to it through my employers intranet but usually just access it at home via the Government Gateway.
I've edited this reply several times over the past hour to reflect some changes due to my rapidly awakening state! I do think you should get some information regarding the scheme-if you don't have a Pension Manager where you work (or they're not that helpful), I've contacted the NHS Pensions Agency and got some good information from them:
0300 3301 346
I hope this helps.