1980s NHS Superannuation

williegofar

Hi,

I have discovered today that I am a 'deferred (preserved) member' of the Scottish NHS pension scheme. This is in relation to my working for the NHS for just under 4 years in the 1980s.

I'm 55 at the end of the year and have been thinking about my pensions and it suddenly struck me about my time with the NHS. A quick phone call confirmed that I was a member. Dumb to not have thought about this before now, but there you go. I was told to send an email to request details of the amount of money involved. The automated email response contained the following; "If you are requesting an estimate of your benefits this may take up to 4 months."

4 months is a long time to wait. I was wondering if anyone would be able to provide any sort of calculation I could use to get a very rough idea of what sort of money could be involved.

Thanks a lot.

Silvertabby

You must have left after April 1988, as you would have needed at least 5 years pensionable service before then?

As for an estimate, even with your actual dates of service/salary/etc etc it would only be a best guess. Far better to wait for the official quote.

williegofar

Silvertabby wrote: »

You must have left after April 1988, as you would have needed at least 5 years pensionable service before then?

As for an estimate, without your actual dates of service/salary/etc etc it would only be a wild guess. Far better to wait for the official quote.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. My dates were Sept 1985 until July 1989.

I wasn't looking for anyone to provide me with a figure, instead I was hoping for the formula that I might use to arrive at a rough figure myself. As I said, 4 months is a long time to wait and I've been googling around for hours in the hope of finding some info, but without success.

GunJack

wasn't the old nhs scheme a 1/80ths, similar to the PCSPS? if so, if you can estimate at 5/80th of your leaving salary, indexed up from then to now, plus lump sum 3x the pension. But, as said already, the only accurate figures should be the ones they send you

Silvertabby

williegofar wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply. My dates were Sept 1985 until July 1989.

I wasn't looking for anyone to provide me with a figure, instead I was hoping for the formula that I might use to arrive at a rough figure myself. As I said, 4 months is a long time to wait and I've been googling around for hours in the hope of finding some info, but without success.

OK, it appears that the NHS Scotland accrual rate at that time was 1/60th.

Your pension will be calculated to the day, so, roughly:

3 years 10 months = 3.8

Your pensionable pay as at your date of leaving =£?

So, your earned pension as at your date of leaving would have been ? divided by 60 times 3.8

You then add on cost of living increases - the factor for 2017 is 2.3066, plus another 3% for April 2018.

ie. If your pensionable pay as at your date of leaving was £10K, then:

£10k / 60 = £166.67

£166.67 x 3.8 = £633.35 annual pension

£633.35 x 2.3066 = £1460.86 annual pension with cost of living increases to April 2017

£1460.86 plus 3% cost of living increase from April 2018 = £1504.69.

Re-do the sum using your actual pensionable pay as at your date of leaving - but still don't bank on the result!

ADD: If Jack is right, and the accrual rate was 1/80 plus an automatic lump sum, then you can still use my formula - just use your actual salary and 80 instead of 60, then add on a lump sum of 3 x pension.

williegofar

GunJack wrote: »

wasn't the old nhs scheme a 1/80ths, similar to the PCSPS? if so, if you can estimate at 5/80th of your leaving salary, indexed up from then to now, plus lump sum 3x the pension. But, as said already, the only accurate figures should be the ones they send you

GunJack, cool, thanks for that. I don't recall from all those years ago how much I was paid so I've no chance of coming up with an accurate figure. But I was just looking for a very very rough indication of the numbers I could be looking at. You've just done that. Cheers.

williegofar

Silvertabby, Thanks a lot for taking the time to give me that breakdown. Really useful and really appreciated.

Brynsam

Silvertabby wrote: »

You must have left after April 1988, as you would have needed at least 5 years pensionable service before then?

Not so - vesting period was shorter in public sector schemes.

As for the four months quoted - schemes have two months to provide a benefit statement when requested by a deferred member.

Silvertabby

You must have left after April 1988, as you would have needed at least 5 years pensionable service before then?
Originally posted by Silvertabby

Brynsam wrote: »

Not so - vesting period was shorter in public sector schemes.

As for the four months quoted - schemes have two months to provide a benefit statement when requested by a deferred member.

Not so - at least for the Armed Forces, NHS, Civil Service, LGPS, TPS, etc etc. They were all 5 years pre 1988.

mollycat

OP.....hate to disagree with Silvertabby but pretty sure accrual rate at that time 80ths not 60ths.

So, just under 4 80ths accrued. Plus indexing.

Minus acturial reduction for taking at 55 instead of 60, (OP doesn't say if he had special class status). ??

As ever, happy if I have wrong end of the stick

Silvertabby

mollycat wrote: »

OP.....hate to disagree with Silvertabby but pretty sure accrual rate at that time 80ths not 60ths.

So, just under 4 80ths accrued. Plus indexing.

Minus acturial reduction for taking at 55 instead of 60, (OP doesn't say if he had special class status). ??

As ever, happy if I have wrong end of the stick

Thank you - happy to stand corrected - could only find 1/60th and NRA of 50 or 55 when I googled.