Need to increase my NHS Pension.

keep_it_simple

Hi,

Long story but I need to increase my pension.
I have searched but can not find an answer on the NHS Business page or anywhere else.

I am in the 1998 section and the 2008/15 section.
I am retiring in 3 years when I will be 60.
I've paid in the the NHS pension since 2003.
Came to nursing late in life.
My partner has found out he is to be made redundant this year and my plan is to go full time for the remainder of my employment.
At present I work 22.5 hours.
I did work full time for 2 years, then 30 hours for 7 years.

My questions are,
If I contribute more to my existing pension ie, the 2015 section will I get a bigger pension out ?
Will I be able to draw this pension at 60, considering it will be paid into the 2015 section ?
Can I pay it into the 1995 section ?
Is it worth buying more pension from NHS if I can ?
Should I start a new private pension ?
Could I get the tax relief on it that the Government adds or due to me already having an NHS pension would this not be allowed ?
Would my current employer contribute into 2 pensions for me as I would be paying into 2 NHS pensions ?

Sorry I not at all clued up, pension wise.

Thank you for any help received.

louloubelle79

Hi have you read

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/increasing-your-pension

keep_it_simple

Hi,

Long story but I need to increase my pension.
I have searched but can not find an answer on the NHS Business page or anywhere else.

I am in the 1998 section and the 2008/15 section.
I am retiring in 3 years when I will be 60.
I've paid in the the NHS pension since 2003.
Came to nursing late in life.
My partner has found out he is to be made redundant this year and my plan is to go full time for the remainder of my employment.
At present I work 22.5 hours.
I did work full time for 2 years, then 30 hours for 7 years.

My questions are,
If I contribute more to my existing pension ie, the 2015 section will I get a bigger pension out ?
Will I be able to draw this pension at 60, considering it will be paid into the 2015 section ?
Can I pay it into the 1995 section ?
Is it worth buying more pension from NHS if I can ?
Should I start a new private pension ?
Could I get the tax relief on it that the Government adds or due to me already having an NHS pension would this not be allowed ?
Would my current employer contribute into 2 pensions for me as I would be paying into 2 NHS pensions ?

Sorry I not at all clued up, pension wise.

Thank you for any help received.[/QUOTE]

keep_it_simple

Hi, yes I have but it doesn't answer any of my questions. Nothing about if I can draw it at 60, etc. But thanks though.

Flugelhorn

Hi - you'll be in the 1995 section, they didn't inflict another change on us in 1998 (thank goodness) - you may have changed to 2008 but I am not sure that you were obliged to change to 2015 ? or did you just miss out being 50 in 2012?

You can't pay more into NHS pensions, there are set amounts and then you get amounts out at retirment related to salary etc.

You could try to get the highest salary job you can (it is salary not pay that counts - though working more hours does help in increasing your length of scheme membership) - other option would be to continue working beyond 60, this would increase your pension as you would be a member for longer.

You can have a private pension and would get tax relief provided you don't breach the annual allowance (this is complicated - tends to be when people are putting lots into pensions, though you need to check on it)

NHS employer will only be paying into one pension for you, depending on which bit of the scheme you are currently a member of, if you are now in 08? or 15? then that is the only one they will be paying into, they won't pay into a private scheme for you.

PS you can draw the 1995 at 60 but the 2015 at 68

keep_it_simple

Thank you.

I shall have to take time to digest the information.

I was 50 in January 2012.
TBH I'm sure I'm in the 1995 section due to me being able to take early retirement, which I haven't done due to loosing too much pension.

Would it be worth while starting a new pension of just saving It ?
I'm looking at around £100 extra per month.

Thanks

Flugelhorn

Looks like you wouldn't have needed to change onto the 2015 scheme:

Members of the 1995/2008 Scheme who, as at 1 April 2012, were either already over their Normal
Pension Age or 10 years or less from their Normal Pension Age and in active membership on both
31 March 2012 and 31 March 2015 are entitled to Full Protection. Members with Full Protection will
remain in the 1995/2008 Scheme until they retire.

The 1995 would allow you to retire earlier but yes you lose money, you can carry on beyond 60 and build up the pension a bit.

Re new pension - always worth saving extra but I am no expert on the best way of doing that - am sure there is lots of advice on here

tacpot12

keep_it_simple wrote: »

My questions are,
If I contribute more to my existing pension ie, the 2015 section will I get a bigger pension out ?

Yes, the more you earn, the bigger your 2015 section pension will be. This is providing you are earning 'pensionable' pay; if you do more hours, I would expect this pay will all be pensionable, so doing more hours is good.

Your 1995 scheme will pay you a higher pension if your pay rises (as it is based on best of the last 3 years’ pensionable pay)

Your 2008 scheme membership may pay you a higher pension if your pay rises (as it is based on the average of the best three consecutive years within the last 10 years)

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Will I be able to draw this pension at 60, considering it will be paid into the 2015 section ?

Yes, you can draw a pension from the 2015 section at age 60, but there are some key points:
1. The amount of your pension will be reduced. You will receive about 69% of what you would receive if you waited until your state retirement age (67?).
2. You have to have ceased all NHS employment. If you want to carry on doing some work, you will only be able to take a maximum of 80% of the reduced pension while you remain employed by the NHS.

You can draw a pension from the 1995 section at age 60, and you will receive the full amount of the pension and lump sum you have earned as 60 is the normal retirement age for this section. You can't take a pension from the 1995 section if you are still working in the NHS.

You can draw a pension from the 2008 section at age 60, but the amount of the pension will be reduced by about 77% of what you would receive if you waited until the normal retirement age for this section which is 65. You don't have to stop working in the NHS if you are happy to take a reduced pension while you remain employed.

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Can I pay it into the 1995 section ?

Sort of, you can increase your 1995 section pension by buying more pension. See below.

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Is it worth buying more pension from NHS if I can ?

I would say that it is worth buying more pension from the NHS because
- the scheme is safe as it is underwritten by the government,
- the benefits are index-linked (so they rise with inflation),
- there is no investment risk for you - there is no risk that you will receive less money if your investments do not perform well,
- you don't have to worry about charges or managing your pension pot, and
- it is very good value compared to any other option.

There is a calculator for additional pensions available at: http://www.nhspensions.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/PensionCalculators/AdditionalPension/index.aspx

This will tell you how much you will pay either as a lump sum, or as installments taken from your salary on a monthly basis for an amount of extra payment. While there isn't a restriction on which scheme you can buy your added pension in, if you want to take your pension at age 60, only the 1995 scheme will allow you to do this.

AVCs are another option that is available to you, but I would regard these as being a new private pension, and my comment below refers to this.

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Should I start a new private pension ?

No, for the reasons stated above I think you would be better buying additional pension in the 1995 scheme.

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Could I get the tax relief on it that the Government adds or due to me already having an NHS pension would this not be allowed ?

If you do start a new private pension or AVC contract you will get the tax relief (unless your NHS pension contributions and private pension contributions are more than £40,000 per year) but this still won't guarantee that a new pension/AVCs will be better than the certainty of the NHS scheme.

keep_it_simple wrote: »

Would my current employer contribute into 2 pensions for me as I would be paying into 2 NHS pensions ?

Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one, but I doubt that an NHS employer would pay into a private pension for you, as this is just extra work for them. Your local HR function might be able to advise, but they might want you to opt out of the 2015 scheme before they do so, which I would not advise.

Hope this answers your questions.

It is perhaps not surprising that you struggle with pensions as the government has made the NHS pensions landscape so darn complicated!

The other thing to say is that government has just lost a court case with Judges and Firemen over the transitional arrangement in their pensions schemes, that mirror the 1995 to 2015 scheme arrangements in the NHS. So staying at wor k for the next three years might allow time for this judgement to be appealed and if the case is ruled in favour of the workers, for your pension to move back to being all in the 1995 scheme which would be a great result for you.

Best regards

tacpot12

Other ideas for increasing your income in retirement:

1) check your state pension forecasts and top up before you reach state retirement age to ensure you and your partner both receive the maximum state pension.
2) take in a lodger if you have a spare room - you can earn upto £7,500 a year without paying any extra tax, but even if you earned half this, it would go a long way to buying another chunk of NHS pension.

keep_it_simple

Hi, Thank you so much for the help.

I will certainly look into all your suggestions.
As you say I will stay at work for the next 3 years but seriously I doubt
many nurses will be able to continue working until they are 67 due to the nature of the role.
That is unless they work in a managerial role where there is very little or no " hands on " work, no night shifts, bank holidays or weekends.

Thank you again.

tacpot12

I think the government fully expected the majority of staff to take 'early' retirement from the 2015 scheme, I just hope the NHS workforce planning has also assumed a large degree of early retirement otherwise the wards and clinics will be even more understaffed!