Civil Service - Partial Retirement Question

mapleoak

bluenose1 wrote: »

I have a deferred civil service pension in the classic scheme that I intend to take at 55 to allow me to fully retire. When I have done the sums worth it for me to retire to have the extra 5 years of not getting up at 6:30am for a job I sometimes enjoy but find stressful.
I won't take the 12:1 max lump sum as don't think that is financially worth it.
2 years and 2 months to go. Not that I am counting. ��

Hi Bluenose

People used to say to me retire (from the Civil Service) then get a little job - no stress involved - (16 hours max always gets a mention) in ASDA or the like - but there aren't many of those jobs left these days either! Taking the max lump sum seems to divide people, most appear to say its not worth it - others seem to think it can be a good idea.

At least I'm on the home straight - lord knows what it will be like for my daughter (she's 16) when she gets to my age pension wise.

BoxerfanUK

bluenose1 wrote: »

I have a deferred civil service pension in the classic scheme that I intend to take at 55 to allow me to fully retire. When I have done the sums worth it for me to retire to have the extra 5 years of not getting up at 6:30am for a job I sometimes enjoy but find stressful.
I won't take the 12:1 max lump sum as don't think that is financially worth it.
2 years and 2 months to go. Not that I am counting. ��

I didn't take the extra lump sum as It meant a reduction in my pension of almost 4K and as I took it at 55 that's a lot of CPI inflation lost. Had I been 66 or so it may have altered my view.
Fortunately 55 was my standard retirement age so no actuarial reduction in pension.

BoxerfanUK

mapleoak wrote: »

Hi Boxerfan

I am 56 - will have completed 40 years in 2021 - thankfully most of it will have been in Classic - will end up with a few years in Alpha.

Am considering two options - go after 40 years and look to do 3 days so partial retirement for perhaps another 2 years or so and then go when I'm around 60 - wife is a civil servant (albeit she has done part time for a large part of it) and 5 years younger so it would be good if we could time it that the both of us leave at the same time if possible, even if that means me working a little longer. Just checked my State Pension and it's currently showing £137 a week based on current contributions - if I make a further 6 years of NI contributions it will be max of £164 - although that's not until 2030 :shocked: - so I would need to be content that we can live reasonably well on our combined pensions and lump sums.

Assuming mortgage and other debts are paid off then our monthly outgoings would be a lot less - but would be nice to have occasional holidays, run a car, etc.

When I think of the spotty kid leaving school at 16 I would never have thought about retirement and I am glad we (wife and I) at least have a form of pension to look forward to - many don't. It's more making the right decision and it's one of the things that nobody else can make for you.

I agree mapleoak, I joined without even thinking about pensions but stuck it out and now 35+ years later am so glad I did.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. At least you have 'choices' :-)

mapleoak

BoxerfanUK wrote: »

I agree mapleoak, I joined without even thinking about pensions but stuck it out and now 35+ years later am so glad I did.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. At least you have 'choices' :-)

Thanks BoxerfanUK

When the highlight of your year is your annual pension statement coming you know you're getting near retirement!

MancJonny

mapleoak wrote: »

Thanks BoxerfanUK

When the highlight of your year is your annual pension statement coming you know you're getting near retirement!

That is so scarily true, mapleoak!

BoxerfanUK

MancJonny wrote: »

That is so scarily true, mapleoak!

I agree, so true.

jamesperrett

BoxerfanUK wrote: »

Fortunately 55 was my standard retirement age so no actuarial reduction in pension.

I was going to mention actuarial reductions - at age 58 you are looking at nearly 10% reduction in pension for going 2 years early (but less reduction in the lump sum).

GunJack

mapleoak wrote: »

Or if I was to take my "standard" lump sum of £63,000 I would get an annual pension of £20,400.

Just make sure with MyCSP that those are the numbers AFTER actuarial reduction for taking it 2 yrs early....

BobQ

Two points to consider/explore

(1) Partial Retirement is not a right. It is basically a change in your contract (full time to part time) plus drawing some of your pension. You need to justify to your employer that part time working is possible in your job. (In some areas this is almost a formality but do not assume this is the case - chat to your line manager).

(2) You need to check but I think I recall that the calculation of your pension income is based on the standard pension and the pension resulting from converting your lump sum to more pension. Others may know if this is the case.

mapleoak

jamesperrett wrote: »

I was going to mention actuarial reductions - at age 58 you are looking at nearly 10% reduction in pension for going 2 years early (but less reduction in the lump sum).

Hi Yes - I suppose it's down to determining whether it would be better to hang on until 60 to avoid any reduction - my wife will probably demand I work until I'm 60 :rotfl: