Quick advice needed for pension transfer from USS to Alpha

german_keeper

One other unrelated point which you may indeed already be aware of. It looks like you are right on the cusp of the 7.35% contribution rate. For 20/21 this is set at £54,901. I think this is increased because I am sure at one time it was about £51k. So as I am expecting the next 10 years pay "rises" to be similar to the last 10 you may well end up avoiding it unless you are promoted.

Bravepants

You have missed the deadline for buying Added Pension out of you pay for this financial year, BUT you can still buy via a lump sum, paying by cheque, but you have to have at least 12 months pensionable service in Alpha BEFORE you can buy Added Pension by lump sum. When buying by lump-sum you would then claim the tax back by registering with HRMC and completing a self-assessment form. This can all be done electronically and is not as scary as it sounds!

I also meant to say that the closer you get to retirement the more expensive buying the same amount of Added Pension becomes. So in some regards you are better off buying more while you are young, but contradictorily you would expect your salary to increase as you age, so it's horses for courses really. The effect is more pronounced the closer you are to retirement age. 

intacted

german_keeper said:

One other unrelated point which you may indeed already be aware of. It looks like you are right on the cusp of the 7.35% contribution rate. For 20/21 this is set at £54,901. I think this is increased because I am sure at one time it was about £51k. So as I am expecting the next 10 years pay "rises" to be similar to the last 10 you may well end up avoiding it unless you are promoted.

Yes in April I got a accidental pay rise as they increased the contribution bands, and I have dropped from 7.35% to 5.45%, but that means I will now pay more tax. So I will pay a lump sum of £1400 this year (in September, so I had a full 12 months pensionable service) to bring me back to basic tax rate and boost my pension a little