NHS pension on fixed term contract

deepdown

Is it worth joining the NHS pension scheme on a 12 month fixed term contract? I would be band 3, am 39 and don’t plan on staying longer than 2/3 years. 

I have a small private pension as was previously self employed until corona virus. Thank you. 

tibbles209

If you leave within 2 years of joining the pension scheme your contributions will just be refunded to you. That being said, you could well end up staying longer than expected, and if you do stay longer than 2 years the NHS pension scheme is outstanding value and you could live to dearly regret not joining from the outset.
I would say join. There's nothing to lose if you leave early, and everything to gain if you stay longer than 2 years.

Silvertabby

No, if you leave with less than 2 years service you have the choice of a refund of your own contributions less statutory deductions or a transfer to another scheme.  With a refund, you forfeit your employer's contributions, but with a transfer you don't.  

As you wouldn't have accrued actual pension rights in the NHS, the normal rules banning transfers out to a non DB scheme don't apply.  However, you only have 12 months in which to make the transfer so don't dawdle.

The LGPS has another condition which specifies a minimum of service/membership of 3 months in order to be eligible for a transfer.  The NHS may or may not have a similar rule. 

nigelbb

Try & stay for the 2 year minimum to preserve the pension. It's tremendous value & effectively an extra 30-40% on top of your salary deferred until retirement. It accumulates at 1/54 so in round numbers if you earn £54,000/year then each year you add another £1,000/year of pension. Your average life expectancy at retirement is over 20 years so that's over £20,000 on top of your £54,000 paid in retirement.

Silvertabby

If the NHS allows it, transferring your little private pension into the NHS scheme could also give you pension rights, even if you only do 12 months.  Check with the NHS to ask if this is possible given your initial 12 month contract and, if it is, start the ball rolling as soon as you join the NHS, as this must be done in your first 12 months.  

crv1963

I working with someone who is about to retire- she joined NHS in 1990 as a Healthcare Assistant (Band 3), she never planned staying longer than 6 months................................